If you have ever been to Bulgaria, you surely know that there are a couple of typical Bulgarian dishes you should try. Banitsa, together with other meals, is one of our main and super-widespread foods. It is kinda multi-layer pastry with a variety of stuffing. It could be made of raw or pre-cooked layers of dough, one above the other or wrapped in circles. Plus there are a lot of variations, starting with small banitsa that you could buy in almost every shop everywhere, reaching to some really interesting (and tasty) types of banitsa with apples, pumpkins, and even with leeks. There are sweet and salty kinds of banitsa, and there is also a milky banitsa.
Honestly, I don’t know even a single person here who has never eaten a banitsa and haven’t liked it. This is just one of those things that everybody loves 🙂
As you can imagine, layers and layers of dough is not the healthiest thing you could choose from the menu, especially if you’re trying to eat less carbs. But, as a trend, low-carb dishes brought us a lot of new items in the stores, like wholemeal banitsa raw dough. So, now we’re able to make our beloved dish in a way that is a bit healthier and good for our bodies and diets 🙂
What do you need for a wholemeal healthy banitsa with cheese?
- patience (there are few of things you should do, and repeat a couple of times, so you should be prepared that this is not just 3 steps receipt, but there is at least half an hour cooking)
- wholemeal raw dough banitsa layers – up to 2 BGN per package
- cheese (~400-500 grams) – 7 to 10 (or more) BGN per kilo
- 5 eggs – 2 to 4 BGN for 6 to 12 eggs pack
- yogurt (~250-300 grams) – up to 2 BGN for 400 grams box
- baking soda (a teaspoon) – up to 1 BGN for a package (~20 teaspoons)
- olive oil (2 tablespoons) – 15 to 20 BGN per kilo
- butter (2 tablespoons) – up to 7-8 BGN per package
- a cup of soda – up to 1 BGN for a bottle
Find middle to a normal sized tray and a bowl. Then:
- Crack the eggs into the bowl together with the yogurt.
- Add the baking soda, olive oil and cup of soda into that and mix.
- Then put there the crumbled cheese. Note: try not to crumble really hard that cheese, let there be bigger pieces.
- Grease the tray a bit and put a layer of the dough in it. (you can use baking paper instead of)
- Cover it with a couple of big tablespoons of the mixture above.
- Put another layer with dough over it and again – cover it with cheese mixture.
- Repeat till you have just 2-3 tablespoons left in the bowl.
- Put the butter below the last layer.
- After you put the last layer – cover it with the last cheese mixture.
- Use a fork or small knife to make a couple of small holes into the banitsa so it could ‘breath’ in the oven.
- Put your banitsa into the pre-heated oven (up to 200 degrees) and bake it till gold.
- Serve separately or together with yogurt for a traditional experience.
- (optional) (if you’re not on a diet or something) Serve it with boza – traditional barley juice with specific taste – another classic urban combination with banitsa,
