The name comes from the word pastma, which means salty and dried meat from a sheep or a lamb. But nowadays, almost no pastramas are used for making pastrmalija, and the most used meat is the pork, and chicken meat is also often also used. If desired, cheese, mushrooms, eggs, etc. can be added. Often the name is mistaken and instead of the pastrmalija it is called pastrmajlija.
There are many restaurants that prepare delicious pastrmalii but I have a great recipe so you can prepare it at home. From this dose you get 5 huge pastramalii, but you can halve the dose. I had guests come over so I needed more of them. All were gone by the end of the night, they turned out beautiful. I prepared the dough and meat in the morning before leaving to work and used both after 9-10 hours. I kept the dough in the fridge and before use, I re kneaded it shortly and kept it at room temperature for 1 hour. The difference between kneading dough earlier and later as written in this recipe is that when u prepare it like me, it will turn out softer after baking and will grow more. I tell u, my pastrmalii were huge and soft. Experiment!
Ingredients:
For DOUGH
- 1 kg and 200 g flour
- 700 ml lukewarm water
- 6 tablespoons oil
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- 1 cube fresh yeast (40 grams)
- 1/2 packet baking powder (or 1 tsp)
- 1.5 kg pork
- 1.5 tablespoon Bukovska Pepper
- 1.5 tablespoon salt
- 5 eggs
- 250 g grated cheese
For COATING
- about 150 g lard
- sesame seeds if desired
Preparation
- First prepare the meat the previous day or at least several hours before making the pastrmalii.
- Cut into cubes, season with salt and pepper. Leave it in a plastic bag or in another covered container in the refrigerator. Before use, remove it 1 hour earlier from the refrigerator to soften at room temperature.
- For the dough - activate the yeast with 200 ml of warm water, 2 teaspoons of sugar and a little flour. When it rises, put all the ingredients in a bowl together with the yeast and knead a medium soft non-stick dough. If necessary add some flour. Allow the dough to reach for 1 hour. Reknead shortly after 1 hour and leave it to grow for 30 more minutes.
- After reaching for the second time, divide it into 5 parts. From each part form pastramalija and stretche them in a floured pan with your hands coated with a little lard.
- Put meat on each pastramalia, place pieces of lard on top and put to bake it in a heated oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. Then add a little grated cheese and egg on top, brush the edges with lard and turn it back in the oven for about 5 more minutes.
