Dejan Georgievski won the silver medal in the men’s taekwondo +80kg category at Tokyo Olympics. He represents the Republic of North Macedonia which Chigasaki became the host town, and was also Macedonia’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony. Before the games, he said “It is a great honor for me to be Macedonia’s flag bearer at the Tokyo Olympics. It is a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life. I expect to win a medal” and he did win the Silver Medal. Congratulations!On Friday 23 July when the opening ceremony of the Olympics took place, IAC held a social event for Macedonia and Chigasaki online. More than 40 people participated, and we all had a great time. Daughter of Ms. Owada of International Marriage & Child-raising Circle spoke up in the event “As a host town program, I lately have cevapcici for school lunches at our elementary school. We love it because it’s delicious. Is it served at school lunches in Macedonia, too?” and we talked about cevapcici. Cevapcici or kebapi is a grilled dish of minced and seasoned meat from the Balkans that varies slightly from region to region and from family to family.

Here is how Ms. Owada recreated the school lunch cevapcici.
Ingredients (serve 4-5)
(1) 600 gr ground beef and pork
(2) 1 tablespoon paprika powder
(3) a dash of garlic powder
(4) a dash of pepper
(5) a dash of salt
(6) 1 teaspoon baking soda
(7) 1 table spoon vegetable oil

How to make cevapcici
(1) In a large mixing bowl combine all the ingredients except for the vegetable oil, and mix with your hands
(2) Let the mixture rest in the fridge for 1 hour
(3) Put the mixture in a pastry bag and make the meat sticks, and cut into bite size pieces
＊If you don’t have a pastry bag, use a plastic bag and snip off the closed tip after filling the bag
(4) Pour the oil into the frying pan, and stir-fry the meat until cooked all the way through
<click to enlarge>
Paprika is one of Makedonia’s signature foods. According to Ms. Owada, you can get the paprika powder at the supermarket Aeon in Chigasaki for around 180yen. She said “it was the first time for me to use a pastry bag for meats, and was difficult to squeeze it out evenly. So I had to do it over and over again, but it was fun. My daughter said my cevapcici tastes and looks pretty similar with school lunch cevapcici. The paprika powder adds refreshing flavor to the meat, and it was delicious!”It only takes approx. 1 hour and 40 minutes including 1 hour of refrigerating time to prepare cevapcici. Dejan Georgievski, the medalist taekwondo fighter, should also be eating it. Why don’t you enjoy it too, and get through this hot summer?!

Chopsticks Group・International Marriage & Child-raising Circle・North Macedonia Fellowship Group
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