• 1 medium size chicken
• 2 l water
• 1 bunch root vegetables (2 carrots, 1 parsley root, 1 parsnip, 1/2 celery root, 1 leek)
• 1 pepper (Hungarian, or chili)
• salt
• peppercorns
• 250 gr. rice
• 40 gr. oil or lard
• 1 onion
• 40 gr. melted butter
• fresh ground pepper

Wash chicken and put up to cook. When the water boils, add cleaned roots, pepper, salt and a few peppercorns. Simmer until chicken is tender

Clean and wash rice, pour lukewarm water over it and leave to sit for 10-15 minutes; then drain.

Put oil or lard into a fireproof dish, add finely chopped onion, cook gently to soften. When chicken is cooked, take it out of the broth and cut into pieces. Strain the broth and cut the root vegetables into cubes. Add rice to soften the onion, pour in 3/4 l broth and cook until half soft. Mix cooked and cut root vegetables into rice, stir, add salt and pepper. Place chicken meat over rice, pour in more broth if needed. Bake in a preheated oven (to 175-200C) until the rice is tender and the meat is brown. Pour heated butter over and sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.

With "gjuvech" serve beet root salad with horseradish, lettuce, or cucumber salad with yogurt or sour cream.

From The Balkan Cookbook by Radojko Mrljesh, for fair use only.