About the dish
Banitsa is Bulgaria's best-known pastry: sheets of thin dough are layered or rolled with a filling of crumbled sirene cheese, eggs and yoghurt and baked until golden. It is classically eaten warm for breakfast, with ayran or boza – a thick, lightly fermented grain drink. Besides the cheese version there are banitsas with spinach, leeks or sauerkraut, and sweet ones with pumpkin. Banitsa also has a ritual role: on New Year's Eve fortunes for the coming year are hidden in it, and each member of the household reads the one that turns up in their slice.
Main ingredients
- filo pastry
- sirene cheese
- eggs
- yoghurt
- butter or oil
Bulgaria: On New Year's Eve and at Christmas, banitsa is baked with hidden fortunes (kasmeti) – wishes written on slips of paper wrapped in foil.
More: Wikipedia (en)
