Bulgarian Banitsa Recipe

To make Banitsa you need the following ingredients

* Filo pastry
* 300 grams Sirene (Bulgarian cheese that can be substituted with Feta cheese)
* Oil or melted butter, I use sunflower oil
* 3 eggs
* 100ml carbonated mineral water

Step 1) Find a fairly deep tray, preferably round in shape.

Step 2) Crumble your Sirene (or Feta) in to small pieces in a bowl

Step 3) Put your Filo pastry over your tray then cut it so its slightly larger in size.

Step 4) Lay a sheet of Filo pastry in your tray vertically, drizzle oil on top of the sheet of Filo pastry.

Step 5) Lay a sheet of Filo pastry in your tray horizontally and add a handful of your Sirene or Feta cheese.

Step 6) Keep repeating steps four and five until Filo and chosen cheese has been used.

Step 7) If you have any excess Filo Pastry at the sides fold this over on top of the Banitsa to form an extra top layer.

Step 8) Cut the Banitsa in to the portion sizes you wish to have.

Step 9) Crack all 3 eggs in to a bowl, add the 100ml of carbonated water and whisk.

Step 10) Pour your whisked egg and carbonated water over the Banitsa ensuring it goes in to all the gaps from where you have cut your portion sizes and covers the top well.

Step 11) Put your Banitsa in the oven on a temperature of 200 degrees or gas mark 6 for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Bulgarian Banitsa is taditionally eaten at breakfast with yoghurt.

In the present day Banitsa is eaten hot or cold as a snack or part of a meal whether this be breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The great thing about Banitsa is its versatility, it is such a tasty dish but can be used with almost any dish.

Also Banitsa can be stored and eaten over a period of days so you dont have to worry about it not getting eaten on the day.....not that this will happen because its so tasty.

Although the traditional filling is Sirene (Feta is very close to this and this is why we use Feta as an alternative), there are vegetarian fillings that can be used instead.

The most common and tasty of the Banitsa recipe variations are

Sour Cabbage (Sauer Kraut)
Onion
Leek
Nettles

In some regions of Bulgaria they even make a sweet out of Banitsa by adding

Apples
Walnuts
Pumpkin (with sugar)
Cinnamon

Why not experiment and find a filling that you will enjoy!