Zahiretë (stock of eatables) are products made by housekeepers to ensure in advance healthy food for consumption during the coming long winter in Korça district.

Some of the typical zahire food products include:

– Petkat,

– Dromkat,

– Sweet Trahana

– Sour Trahana

These products are mostly consumed for breakfast, but they can do for dinner as well.

Making Petka:

Making 1 kg of petka needs: 1 kg of flour, 7 eggs, salt, and water to make a not-so-stiff dough. Mix all these ingredients in a large vessel, until the dough is formed. Cut up the dough into small ball-shaped pieces to roll out into discs with a rolling pin in palare (jastragaç) which is a round pastry board, and then lay them out onto a sheet to dry in the sun. Once this step is over, put them in a strong linen bag so that they rest dry throughout the winter. Take some boiling water and drop the amount of petka-s, based on the number of people due to consume it. After boiling for about 10 minutes, take them off the heat and sprinkle them with previously melted butter.

Making Dromka:

For making dromka, the dough is kneaded in the same way as for petka, but it should be stiffer (with less water than petka dough). Cut up the dough into small ball-shaped pieces and lay them out onto a sheet to dry in the sun. Once the dough has started to stiffen, start to press and manipulate it by hand to crush the mass up and drop it into a metal sieve, so it comes out somehow homogenous. It is cooked the same as petka-s or can be made into soup and casserole.

Making sweet Trahana:

To make sweet trahana, take some wheat which must be cleaned of coarse and fine impurities, to follow with washing and mill grinding. Once the wheat has been ground (though not completely), mix in a large bowl the ground wheat with 1 tablespoon of salt and milk, then put it in a sieve (fine mesh sieve) and manipulate it by hand on a sheet laid out in the sun in order to dry. Boil this mixture with water and salt, and having boiled, add milk.

Making sour Trahana:

To make sour trahana, take flour, chopped peppers, onions, and tomatoes, boil them, mix them with flour and leave the mixture to rest in a large bucket to ferment for 7 days. After this step is over, roll out the mixture in the form of a not-very-thick pastry sheet to dry completely, and then crush it up by hand and drop it in a metal sieve until a fine powder is obtained. To cook sour trahana, chop a small onion and sauté it (fry with oil) until the onion softens, then add the trahana, mix it with the fried onion and keep stirring for 2-3 minutes. Next, pour cold water, stirring it constantly with a wooden spoon, so that it does not come in lumps but remains a homogenous liquid porridge or slurry. In the end, melt the butter and brush the whole mixture atop.

All these products should be kept in strong linen bags, in a dry place to prevent getting moisture and to preserve their nutritional value as long as possible.