The Bulgarian National Cuisine

Banitza (cheese and egg pie) Ingredients for the dough: 1 kg plain flour, 1/2 tablespoon salt, 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 400 ml lukewarm water (app) Ingredients for the filling: 5 eggs, 400 g white (feta) cheese, 300g oil and butter (half each). Preparation : Sieve the flour in a deep dish, make a well in the middle and put the salt. Add 2-3 tablespoons oil, 2 tablespoons vinegar and 400 ml lukewarm water. Start kneading for about 15 minutes. Divide it in 7 pieces with the size of a fist each. Brush generously with oil and leave it to rest for 30 minutes somewhere in a warm place. After 30 minutes each of the pieces should be made a thick pastry with diameter 40 cm. Put it on a special table cloth and start the pulling the edges away with your fingertips, aiming at making the pastry as thin as possible. Sprinkle the pastry first with oil or butter and after that sprinkle cheese and eggs (premixed in a different dish). After that lift one side of the table cloth in a way that the pastry starts rolling until it becomes a long thin roll. Have a shallow and wide baking form at hand, buttered and floured. Place carefully one end of the roll in the middle and arrange in a spiral. With the next ready roll continue the spiral till the form is full… Bake it in a preheated oven (200 Celsius) for about 30 minutes.

SHOPSKA SALAD : Ingredients : 300 g red tomatoes 150 g small sized cucumbers 800 g peppers (roasted, pilled, cleaned from the seeds) 50 g onion 200 g crumbled cheese 3 tablespoons (30ml) oil 1/2 bunch of parsley vinegar salt Preparation : Chop the peppers. Add the tomatoes, the cucumbers and the onion cut into cubes. Steer the vegetables and add salt, vinegar and oil on taste. Sprinkle the crumbled cheese and parsley on top of the vegetables.

Tarator ( fresh cold yoghurt soup) Ingredients: 2 cucumbers, 2 pots of yoghurt (2 x 500 ml), a few cloves of garlic, olive oil - by taste, 1 cup of finely walnuts, salt, 1 bunch of fresh dill Preparation: Cut the cucumbers into very fine cubes. Mix them with the oil, salt, garlic(crushed or finely chopped).Shortly before serving add the well-cooled and perfectly shaken up yoghurt and add some water. At the and add the cut dill. Make sure to serve it cold !!!

Lamb liver ( “Drob sarma”) Ingredients: 1 kg lamb’s innards 150 g white rice 1 big onion 2 spoons of flour 100 g butter 300 ml milk 1 egg a hand full of dried mint salt, black pepper, curry Preparation: Boil the lamb’s innards and cut them into small cubes. In a baking tray fry the chopped onions, add the rice and stir for about 5 minutes. After that add the innards, 3 tea cups of the bouillon and all the spices. Bake in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the mixture for the top layer:melt the butter, add the flour and stir constantly. Slowly add the milk, while stirring. Take it away from the fire and bind it with 1 egg(mix the egg in advance with the yoghurt). Keep on stirring. Pour this mixture over the “drob sarma” and return back to the oven. Bake for 15 more minutes, until the top layer turns into a nice golden brown color.

Stuffed peppers with beshamel sause Ingredients :12-14 pieces of same size paprika, 2 tomatoes, pilled and chopped,1 big onion (chopped), 1 big carrot (chopped), 500 g minced meat (mixed pork and beef),200 g rice, 20 g oil, 20 g butter,salt, , mint; For the Bechamel sauce: 500 ml milk, 2 tablespoons flour, 4 tablespoons plain yoghurt, 1 egg Preparation of the stuffing : Mix well together the meat, rice, onion, carrot, tomatoes, oil, butter, salt and mint, adding a cup of boiling water.

Stuffed peppers with beshamel sause Wash and clean the peppers from the seeds and pinch each with a fork on 2-3 places. Stuff with the mixture, leaving some space for the rice to cook. Optionally, close the pepper’s openings with tomato chunks. Arrange in an oven dish, sprinkle with salt and some butter and add 3 cups of boiling water. Bake at 170 Celsius for an hour. When ready, drain the sauce from the peppers and use for the preparation of the Beshamel sauce. Melt the butter in a deep frying pan. Add slowly the flour till dissolved and then add the sauce from the cooked peppers. Stirring constantly, add the milk till a smooth, not thick, mixture is achieved. Remove from the heat. In a separate bowl mix the egg and yoghurt together. Add slowly a few spoons from the sauce, stirring constantly. Then add the yoghurt mix to the sauce, continuing the stirring. When serving the peppers, pour the sauce over.

Chicken stew in “garne” Ingredients :1 whole chicken, cut in portions, 300 g onions, cut in rings, 200 g carrots, 200 champions, sliced, 3 medium sized peppers, cut in rings, 2 medium tomatoes, cubed, 10 pcs black pepper, 10 bay leaves, 1 bunch of parsley, oil, 4 tablespoons paprika powder, salt ,1 glass white wine Preparation : Arrange in the dish first the chicken portions, then carrots, onions, peppers, tomatoes, champions and the spices. Pour the wine over, close the dish with the lid and bake at 170 Celsius for 2 hours. Serve with smashed patatoes.

Shashlik Ingredients: 1 kg pork shoulder 100 g vodka 1 tablespoon honey 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon mustard Preparation: Meat should stay in the marinade which is made by 100 g vodka, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon salt and1 tablespoon mustard. Meat should be cut into big pieces and it should soak in the marinade for at least 3 hours. After that arrange them on skewers and also can add some mushrooms, bacon, pepper, onion, cucumber and grill on the barbecue in the garden.

“Sarmi” - vine leaves, stuffed with meat Ingredients: 40 vine leaves 500 g minced meat 200 g rice 1 big onion(chopped) 1 carrot(chopped) 1 tomato(chopped) 1 bunch of fresh dill 1 tablespoon butter salt, black pepper

“Sarmi” - vine leaves, stuffed with meat Preparation: Mix well together the minced meat, onion, carrot, butter, rice, tomato and finally cut some dill, add a cup of boiling water. Wash well the vine leaves(if fresh), blanch them in a large pan with boiling salted water until they just begin to change color. Drain and refresh in cold water. Open out the vine leaves, ribbed side upper most. Place a heaped teaspoon of the stuffing on each vine leave. Fold over the outer edges to prevent from dropping out. Then roll up the vine leaves from stem end to form a neat roll. Arrange the stuffed vine leaves neatly in deep cooking pan and place a medium size plate bottom up on top of the sarmi to keep them together. Add four glasses of hot water, add a spoonful of butter. Cover and cook on 150 Celsius for about one and a half hour.

False rabbit Ingredients : 1 kg mince meat (prepared as for meat balls) 3 hard boiled eggs 2-3 whole boiled carrots 100 g bacon 10 pieces of pickled small cucumbers 200 g smoked cheese oil Preparation : Spread the minced meat in a square shape over the table and arrange on top of it the eggs, pickled cucumbers, the cut bacon and the smoked cheese. Carefully fold in a roll, so that when you later cut it into pieces, the filling is to look like a mosaic. Place in a baking tray, greased with oil and bake for 45 minutes in oven.

Shkembe soup in butter Ingredients: 1.5 kg beef’s innards 1 litre of milk salt, black pepper, red pepper, 200 g butter

Shkembe in butter Preparation: To prepare these two dishes, boil the innards in a cooking pot, under pressure with some salt. When ready leave it to cool down. Then cut it into small pieces. Return half of it back to the pot. Add the fresh milk. When the soup starts boiling, add half of the butter, melted. Add 1 spoon of black pepper. Leave it to boil once again and your soup is ready! In a separate frying pan melt the rest of the butter and place the other half of the innards. Fry it for about 10 minutes. Add the red and black pepper at the end and the dish is ready. The soup is usually offered with a sauce-mixture of vinegar and crushed garlic. In combination with this sauce, it is considered a delicious delicacy by most Bulgarians.

Kozunak ( Easter bread) Ingredients :1 kg flour, 300 g sugar, 25 g yeast, 250 g butter, 250 g milk1, pack vanilla sugar, almonds, raisins, pinch of salt, 6 eggs

Kozunak ( Easter bread) Preparation : You should do it in a well warmed up room. The ingredients should be warmed up too. It is also obligatory to sift the flour trough. First – prepare the yeast with a bit of milk, flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. Leave it to rise. In a warmed dish sift the flour, dig a whole and pour into it the risen yeast, the eggs, mixed with the sugar and the milk, and the grease (oil + butter). Keep on kneading until you end up with a homogenous mixture. While kneading, your hands should be well greased. Leave the dough top rise for at least 1 hour, until it doubles in volume. Then again with well greased hands split the dough in three and start pleating a pleat. Insert the raisins in between. Leave the bread to rise again in a well-greased deep baking tray. They should rise up at least till a middle of the tray. Before placing in a well heated oven cover with egg yolk, decorate with almonds or sprinkle with sugar.