Tavë Kosi

Albania's national dish: lamb and rice buried under a yoghurt and egg custard that sets in the oven into something between a sauce and a soufflé

Origin: Elbasan & Albania

From the journey of Rice.

Tavë is the earthenware dish and kosi is yoghurt, and between them they describe a preparation that is neither a stew nor a bake but a custard with meat in it. Lamb is browned and laid in the dish with rice; yoghurt is beaten with eggs, a little flour, and butter into a loose batter; the batter is poured over and the whole goes into a moderate oven until the top puffs, browns in patches, and sets to a wobble. Cut into it and the yoghurt has become a thick pale sauce rather than a curd. The technical problem the recipe solves is that yoghurt splits when heated. The eggs and the flour are there as insurance: the egg proteins set into a network that holds the whey, and the starch physically gets between the casein micelles and stops them clumping. Take either out and the dish separates into curds and a puddle. This is the same reasoning behind a Greek avgolemono and behind the flour in a Turkish yoghurt soup, arrived at across the whole region. Elbasan claims it, and the full name in Albania is frequently tavë Elbasani, the Elbasan dish. The town sits on the old Via Egnatia in central Albania and was a substantial Ottoman administrative centre, and the construction is Ottoman in its bones: lamb, yoghurt, rice, and a baking dish are the four corners of a great deal of Balkan cooking under Ottoman rule. It is eaten hot, straight from the dish, and it is the food of Sunday lunches, of the Bajram tables of Muslim households, and of Christmas in Orthodox and Catholic ones, which is a fair summary of a country that has all three and treats the dish as belonging to none of them in particular.

Ingredients

Lamb

900 g lamb shoulder, in large pieces on the bone
60 g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
350 ml water

Rice

150 g short or medium-grain rice

Custard

800 g full-fat natural yoghurt
4 eggs
45 g plain flour
40 g butter, melted
1 tsp salt
0.25 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Method

Brown the lamb hard in the 60g of butter in a heavy pan, in batches so it colours rather than steams.
Add the onion and cook for eight minutes until soft, then the garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper for a minute more.
Pour in the water, cover, and simmer for forty-five minutes until the lamb is tender. Lift the meat out and keep the cooking liquid.
Pull the lamb off the bones in large pieces if you prefer it easier to serve, or leave it on the bone, which is the older way.
Cook the rice in the strained lamb liquid, topped up with water to about 320ml, until it has absorbed everything but is still slightly underdone. It will finish in the oven.
Heat the oven to 180°C and butter a wide earthenware or ceramic dish.
Spread the rice over the base and arrange the lamb on top with any pan juices.
Make the custard: whisk the flour into a little of the yoghurt to a smooth paste first, then beat in the rest of the yoghurt, the eggs, the melted butter, salt, and nutmeg.
Whisking the flour into a small quantity first is what prevents lumps, and lumps in this batter show as pale specks in the finished top.
Pour the custard over the lamb so everything is submerged, and shake the dish gently to settle it.
Bake for thirty-five to forty-five minutes, until the top is puffed, golden in patches, and set with a slight wobble at the centre.
Rest it for fifteen minutes before serving. Cut straight from the oven it runs; rested, it slices.

Notes

The eggs and flour are structural rather than optional: without them the yoghurt splits into curds and whey in the oven and there is no recovering it. Use full-fat yoghurt, since low-fat splits more readily. Do not open the oven in the first twenty-five minutes, as the puff depends on trapped steam and will collapse if disturbed. The dish is meant to have a distinct wobble when it comes out and firms considerably as it rests, so err on the side of underbaking. Lamb on the bone gives a better cooking liquid, and that liquid is what the rice is cooked in, so do not discard it.

The Gastrographer

Name: Tavë Kosi
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 40 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Elbasan & Albania
Ingredients: 900 g lamb shoulder, in large pieces on the bone; 60 g butter; 1 onion, finely chopped; 3 garlic cloves, sliced; 1 tsp dried oregano; 2 tsp salt; 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 350 ml water; 150 g short or medium-grain rice; 800 g full-fat natural yoghurt; 4 eggs; 45 g plain flour; 40 g butter, melted; 1 tsp salt; 0.25 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

To explore — select an ingredient below · click any location dot on the map for recipes and stories · browse the information panel on the right · trace the full journey on the timeline.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control