Recipes
Cook with us. We offer you here some of the tastiest recipes from the territory of LAG Rakovski.
Darpana banitsa (Дърпана баница)
Ingredients:
1 kg flour, 400 ml lukewarm water, 1 tbsp vinegar, a pinch of baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 300 g white cheese, 300 g melted lard
Preparation:
Make a small “well” in center of the flour, add to the water salt, vinegar and baking soda, stir and pour the resulting mixture into the flour.
Knead the dough until it forms a soft ball then divide it into 12-13 smaller balls, kneading them separately and leave them to rest for about 10 minutes. Grease the baking dish with lard, put one ball of the dough into the warmed lard and spread it out until it covers the bottom of the baking dish like a pastry sheet. Then sprinkle some crumbled white cheese. Proceed the same way with the other balls. Gather together all the layers with the sprinkled crumbled white cheese in a big ball and then spread it out again evenly in the baking dish. Pour the rest of the lard on top and bake for 40 minutes in moderate oven.
Boyar’s loaf of bread / Bolyarska pita (Болярска пита)
Ingredients:
1 cube of Baker’s yeast, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar, 3 eggs, 400 ml lukewarm water, 125 g butter, 1 kg flour
Preparation:
Stir the yeast, the salt and the sugar with some water until the yeast gets dissolved.
Make a small “well” in the center of the flour and pour the mixture into it. Add the water, two of the eggs and only the egg white from the third one. Knead a ball of dough. Divide the dough into 4 balls, kneading them separately and set them aside to proof. With a rolling pin roll out one ball to pastry sheet, sized to fit the baking dish, and spread some butter on top of it. Roll out a second pastry sheet, put it onto the first one and spread some butter again. Proceed the same way with the other balls. Roll out a big roll from all the layers, stretch it slightly and put it into the pre-greased baking dish in the form of a curved rolled banitsa (pastry). Let it proof again and brush the top with the remaining yolk. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake it in moderate oven for about 50 minutes.
Boyar’s cabbage rolls / Bolyarski sarmi (Болярски сарми)
Ingredients:
500 g pork, 300 g raw sausages, 300 g minced meat, 1 coffee cup rice, 300-400 g mushrooms, 1 head of sour (or fresh) cabbage, 3-4 tbsp sunflower oil, 100 g butter, 1 tsp paprika, black pepper and cumin to taste
Preparation:
Rip the leaves from the cabbage cleaning their hard parts, then boil them for 10-15 min. Cut the meat and the sausages into pieces and fry them in a pan. Add the minced meat. Saute the finely chopped onions, add the rise and the sauteed mushrooms. Mix everything and add spices – black pepper, cumin, paprika. Spread out a leaf of cabbage in a flat dish (use 2-3 leaves if they are not big enough) add put some mixture on it. Roll up a “sarma”, tucking the ends in, and place it into the baking dish. Continue until the cabbage leaves or filling mixture runs out. Pour one cup of broth or hot water, sprinkle with paprika and bits of butter. Bake at 200 OC about 45-50 min.
Loaf of bread “Proshtapalnik” / Pita “Proshtapalnik” (Пита „Прощъпалник”)
Ingredients:
2-3 eggs, 250-300 ml milk, 1 cube of Baker’s yeast, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, flour as needed (about 1 kg.), 300 g white cheese, 150 g butter
Preparation:
Dissolve the yeast together with the sugar and 2-3 tbsp of flour in the slightly warmed milk. After the mixture has risen (expanded in volume 2-3 times), add it into a “well” in the center of the sifted flour, then also adding the eggs and the salt. Knead a medium hard dough and set it aside for a while. Then roll out a big pastry sheet, drizzle the melted butter on it and sprinkle the crumbled cheese. Cut it radially in triangle segments like sun rays, starting close but not from the center of the circle, leaving an uncut central circle, sized to fit almost the baking dish. Turn over every ray (triangle segment) and put it onto the circle area, and flip the loaf over into the greased with butter baking dish. Spread it evenly upto the corners of the baking dish, then cut it in medium sized square pieces. Pour over the remaining melted butter and bake at 180-200 OC. The loaf of bread is served sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Braided loaf of bread / Vita pita (Вита пита)
Ingredients:
1 kg flour, 6 eggs, 250 g yogurt, 300 g milk, 4 tbsp sugar, 1 cube of Baker’s yeast, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp sunflower oil, 125 g butter
Preparation:
Mix the yeast with the sugar, some flour and water and set it aside to rise. Then mix it with all other products and knead medium soft dough.
Divide the dough into 3 balls and set them aside to proof. Stretch each of the balls and sptread 1/3 of the packet of butter of top of it. Braid the stretched pieces the same way as for kozunak (Bulgarian sweet braided bread) and put them into a baking dish. Bake at 220 OC.
Springtime lamb plucks with rice / Proletna drob sarma (Пролетна дроб сарма)
(see the picture of grandma Stefka at the beginning of the appendix )
Ingredients:
2 bunches of green onion, 2 cups rice, lamb plucks, 2 tbsp butter, spearmint (gyozum) , parsley, black pepper and paprika, salt to taste
Preparation:
Clean and wash the lamb plucks. Boil the plucks removing the foam from time to time. Chop the onion and the lamb plucks in small pieces. Fry the green onion with butter in the baking dish, then add the plucks and the rice at the end. Sprinkle paprika, salt and spearmint. Fry everything again. Spread the fried products into the baking dish in which the drob sarma is to be baked, add some broth from the boiling of the plucks (3:1). Mix and bake.
Pork with rice and sour cabbage / Brezovska tava (Брезовска тава)
Ingredients:
1 middle sized head of sour cabbage, approximately 1.5 kg mixed pork, 400 g rice, 2 tbsp paprika and sunflower oil depending on the fatness of the meat
Preparation:
Chop the cabbage finely in small wooden bowl using ogribka . Boil the cabbage and when it is ready, make a small “well” in the middle, put the rice in it and mix. Cut the meat into small chunks and stew separately until they are brown. Drain the sour cabbage with the rice using a slotted spoon and spread it into the baking dish, make a small “well” in the center and pour some of the fat from the slightly fried meat with paprika. Add the meat, stir well and cook on high heat about 15 minutes. Serve in the baking dish, add some hot peppers and accompany the dish with red wine.
Soup with leek, pork and sour cabbage juice (Супа с праз, свинско месо и зелева чорба)
Ingredients:
500 g fresh tender pork, 1 stalk leek, 1 cup rice, paprika, spearmint, sour cabbage juice
Preparation:
Cut the pork into small chunks and fry them in a sauce pot until they are brown, then add to them the finely chopped leek.
Stew with paprika for a short time and then pour the sour cabbage juice. Some water can also be added to achieve the desired taste. Once it starts boiling, add the rice. When everything is well cooked, add spearmint.
Baked meal from pickled vegetables / Turshiena zapekanka (Туршиена запеканка)
Ingredients:
2 pcs middle sized common onion, 100 ml sunflower oil, 1 kg mixed pickled vegetables (from a barrel), 4-5 potatoes, 1 cup rice, 500 ml water
Preparation:
Fry all of the products except the rice. Then add the water. After the products are slightly cooked, add the washed rice and pour everything into a baking dish. Spread it evenly and bake it about 20 minutes.
Beans salad (Салата от фасул)
Ingredients:
2 kg dry common beans, 1 jar of pickled gherkins, 1 jar of lyutenitza, 1 jar of peas, 300 ml sunflower oil, 100 ml vinegar, 500 g carrots
Preparation:
Boil the common beans and the carrots. Then cut the pickled gherkins and the cooked carrots into cubes. Put all of the products in a common dish and mix well, add slightly fried sunflower oil.
Sour cabbage soup from the village of Momino / Mominska kirosiika (Моминска киросийка)
Ingredients:
1 head of sour cabbage, 1 pcs common onion, 1 tbsp paprika, 100 ml sunflower oil, 4 tbsp flour
Preparation:
Chop the cabbage finely and boil it as for thin soup (“chorba”). Make roux with onion, paprika and flour. Pour the roux into the boiled cabbage and let it boil for 10 more minutes. Remove from the hob (or open fire) and the meal is ready for serving.
Christmas pretzel from the village of Momino (Коледен кравай от с.Момино)
Ingredients:
2 eggs, ¼ cube of Baker’s yeast, a pinch of salt, a handful of sugar, 400 ml lukewarm water, flour as needed
Preparation:
Knead a dough from the products and spread it in a baking dish. Make a hole in the middle and put a whole egg. Bake it with the egg to keep the opening.
Bread with cheese from the village of Momino/ Mominski tutmanik (Момински тутманик)
Ingredients:
1 egg, ¼ cube of Baker’s yeast, a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp sugar, 400 g yogurt, flour as needed, 300 g white cheese
Preparation:
Sift the flour into one side of the wooden bowl, and put the rest of the products into the other. Mix gradually adding flour as needed and make dough. Roll it out on a leaf blade. Spread some butter on it, sprinkle crumbled white cheese on top and fold it to a quarter. Grease the baking dish, put the dough in it, spread and flatten it out, and then cut it into dices. Bake at 200 OC about 30-40 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar after it is baked.
Beans with leek in a baking dish (Фасул с праз в тава)
Ingredients:
1 kg beans, 3-4 stalks leek, paprika and black pepper, spearmint, salt to taste
Preparation:
Boil the beans. Chop the leek finely and fry it in hot sunflower oil. Add some paprika. Once fried well, add the beans into the pot and sprinkle with spearmint. Let it simmer for a while, add salt and black pepper, then pour everything into a baking dish and bake in the oven until it is brown.
Beans with cabbage and bacon (Фасул със зеле и сланинка)
Ingredients:
½ kg beans, 1 head of sour cabbage, 250-300 g bacon, paprika and salt
Preparation:
Boil the beans. Chop the cabbage finely and let it boil for a while. Mix the beans with the cabbage and fry it. Add paprika and the bacon sliced into strips. Add some salt, pour into a baking dish and bake in the oven.
Cabbage with rice from the village of Momino / Mominska kopiska (Моминска кописка)
Ingredients:
1 head of sour cabbage, 500 g rice, 300 g pork ribs, 1 homemade sausage, 100 g bacon
Preparation:
Chop the cabbage finely, boil it and then add the rice.
Boil them together and pour them into a baking dish. Fry the ribs, the bacon and the sausage with some paprika added. Pour the fat onto the cabbage with the rice, stir and place the ribs, the bacon and the sausage on the top. Bake it in the oven until ready.
Kebap from the village of Momino/ Kebap po mominski (Кебап по момински)
Ingredients:
250 g pork liver, 250 g tender pork, 200 g bacon, ½ heart and ½ kidney, 2 stalks leek, part of caul fat, 1 cup red wine (or white wine)
Preparation:
Cut the pork into chunks. Put it in a baking dish and fry it with paprika and ground black pepper, cumin and salt to taste. Cover the fried chunks with the pig caul and sprinkle the finely cut leek. Pour over the wine and put the baking dish into the oven for baking. Bake at 200 OC untill the leak is brown. Remove the caul and the leek before serving.
Baked common onion salad (Салата от печен кромид лук)
Ingredients:
5 pcs common onion, 1 coffee cup walnut kernels, 1 tbsp rice, 1 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp vegetable oil, ¼ bunch parsley, salt to taste
Preparation:
Bake the unpealed whole onions in the oven. Once cooled, peal them and crush them. Saute the rice until softened with the vegetable oil and 1 coffee cup of water. Add vinegar and salt to the onion. Mix everything and put in a plateau. Garnish with parsley.
Pancakes on a pottery dish “sach” from the village of Momino / Mominski katmi na sach (Момински катми на сач)
Ingredients:
1 l milk (or water), 4-5 eggs, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 500 g flour
Preparation:
Stir well the milk with salt and the eggs. Add the flour and the soda to the mixture. Mix until the mixture becomes thin as “Boza” (Boza – drink made of fermented wheat or millet). Bake it in a hot round flat pottery tray called “sach”, usually on an open fire. Grease the sach with butter or lard and to prepare 1 pancake called “katma” pour 1 cup of mixture into the sach. Spread the mixture evenly on the surface of the sach, when ready, turn the pancake over and spread some butter on it. The finished katma (katmi – pl.) is served with spread homemade jam, chocolate, white cheese or other desired.
Meal with nettle (Гозба с коприва)
Ingredients:
2 kg nettle, 5-6 stalks green onion, 1 cup crumbled white cheese, 2-3 eggs, 2 cups milk, 3 tbsp flour, 1 tbsp spearmint, ½ cup sunflower oil, salt and black pepper to taste
Preparation:
Stew the nettle in a small quantity of salted water, drain it and chop it finely. Stew the finely copped onion in the oil, add flour and roux it. Sprinkle with spearmint and black pepper, remove from heat and leave to cool. Add white cheese and beaten eggs with milk and add salt. Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish and bake it in moderate oven for about 15-20 minutes.
Spinach with white cheese and eggs (Спанак със сирене и яйца)
Ingredients:
1 kg spinach, 1 bunch green onions, ½ bunch parsley, 1 coffee cup vegetable oil, 50 g butter, 1 cup milk, 4 eggs, 1 cup crumbled white cheese, 1 tsp paprika, black pepper and salt to taste
Preparation:
Put the cleaned and washed finely chopped onions and spinach in a baking dish with vegetable oil and saute until softened, then add paprika and stir. Beat the eggs with the milk then add to the dish this mixture, the crumbled white cheese, finely chopped parsley, black pepper and salt (if necessary). Stir the mixture, cover it with small pieces of butter and bake it until it is gold.
White porridge with white cheese (Бяла каша със сирене)
Ingredients:
60 g butter, 7 tbsp flour, 1 tsp salt, 200 g white cheese, 1 l water, 1 egg
Preparation:
Roux the flour in the melted butter and add water. Boil it about 5 minutes, then add the crumbled white cheese. Boil 2 more minutes. Beat the egg while gradually adding some of the hot porridge to it. Pour the resulting mixture back into the porridge, stir it and remove from the hob (or open fire).
Matan (Матан)
Ingredients:
About 10 l yogurt, water
Preparation:
When the yogurt becomes more sour, pour it into “butalka” and beat it until butter floats to the top. Gradually add cold water to collect the butter. Gather the butter with a wooden spoon. The liquid that is left after the removal of the butter is poured into pottery jugs or bottles and is ready for consumption.
Sour cabbage soup / Clin chorba (Клин чорба)
Ingredients:
500 ml sour cabbage juice, 1 stalk leek, 1 coffee cup rice, 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp flour
Preparation:
Pour the cabbage juice into a sauce pot and add water to produce slightly salty-sour taste. Let it boil and after boiling the water add the finely chopped leek. Let it simmer for a while and add the rice. Make roux with sunflower oil, black pepper and flour and pour it into the soup (chorba) after the products are boiled.
Cabbage porridge (Зелева каша)
Ingredients:
1 head of sour cabbage, 4-5 tbsp flour, 1 tbsp paprika, 4-5 tbsp sunflower oil
Preparation:
Cut the cabbage finely and saute with sunflower oil. Add paprika and 500 ml warm water. Simmer until cabbage softens. Mix well the flour with some cold water and add it gradually to the cabbage, while stirring constantly. Simmer about 10 minutes until cooked.
Porridge / Kashovina (Кашовина)
Ingredients:
500 g green peppers, 500 g tomatoes, 3 tbsp flour, 1 pcs onion, paprika, cumin, black pepper, 2 tbsp sunflower oil
Preparation:
Fry the finely chopped onion in sunflower oil. Add the chopped peppers and tomatoes. Mix well everything, add salt to taste and the other spices. Add water and boil until the vegetables are cooked. Mix well the flour with some cold water and pour it gradually, while stirring constantly. Let it simmer a few more minutes until the flour gets cooked.
Leek porridge / Prazovina (Празовина)
Ingredients:
3 stalks leek (or green onion), 2 tbsp sunflower oil, paprika, cumin, black pepper, 3 tbsp flour
Preparation:
Fry slightly the finely chopped leek (onion) in sunflower oil, add the spices and pour water. Boil it until the leek (onion) is cooked. Mix well the flour in some cold water and pour gradually, while stirring constantly. Let it simmer a few more minutes until the flour is cooked. When serving, vinegar or lemon may be added for acidification.
Porridge from pickled vegetables (Каша от туршия)
Ingredients:
1 kg pickled peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, 1 pcs onion, 3 tbsp flour, 2 tbsp sunflower oil
Preparation:
Cut the pickled vegetables in small pieces and scald them in boiling water. Chop the onion and fry it in sunflower oil, then add the chopped vegetables. Add paprika. Pour about 1 l of warm water and let the meal simmer until the products are cooked. Bake the flour and add it into the boiling vegetables. Let everything simmer for 5 more minutes, then remove from the hob (or open fire).
Chunks with vine leaves / Gushki (Гушки-хапки с лозови листа)
Ingredients:
50 pcs young vine leaves, 25 tbsp rice, 250 g white cheese, 2 eggs, 2 pcs common onion, 5 g cumin, 2 coffee cups sunflower oil, 2 cups water, salt to taste
Preparation:
Blanch the vine leaves. Mix all the products as they are uncooked. Put 1 tsp from the mixture onto every vine leaf. Wing up (roll up) a dolma – called “sarma” or “gushka” (pl. “sarmichki” or “gushki”). Proceed the same way and arrange all the “gushki” into a sauce pot. Pour water and simmer at low heat until the rice is cooked.
Fresh loaf of bread / Pryasna pita (Прясна пита)
Ingredients:
500 g yogurt, 1 egg, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tbsp sunflower oil, flour as needed (about 1 kg)
Preparation:
Sift the flour, and make a small “well” in the middle and add in it the salt, the egg and the yogurt with the baking soda added in it. Knead soft dough and put it in a baking dish, greased with sunflower oil. Spread and flatten it out to cover the whole baking dish, then decorate (scratch) it with fork and puncture it – to avoid forming air bubbles inside. Bake at 180 OC. Once removed from the baking dish spray it with cold water and wrap with a towel to “rest”.
Zucchini Pancakes (Палачинки от тиквички)
Ingredients:
2-3 medium sized zucchini, 3-4 eggs, 4-5 tbsp flour, salt, black pepper, dill
Preparation:
Grate the zucchini and mix all the products in a dough-like mixture. Oil the pan with sunflower oil, put some of the mixture and fry the same way as pancakes. Serve with crumbled white cheese, finely chopped salami or other type of sausage.
Stuffed lamb a la “Gergyovski” from the village of Momino and sauteed “smilyanski” beans (Пълнено агне по Гергьовски от Момино село и задушен смилянски боб)
Ingredients:
A whole lamb, 1 tsp ground black pepper, 150 ml sunflower oil, 2 bunches green common onion, 250 g sorrel, 150 g rice, ¼ bunch fresh parsley, ½ kg big “smilyanski” beans (a variety of beans from the region of the village of Smilyan), 3 tsp finely chopped thyme, 1 tsp white oregano, 30 g butter, 4 tsp black pepper, 1 bunch fresh garlic, 4 tsp salt.
Preparation:
Remove the intestines of the lamb, wash it with water very well and coat it inside with salt and black pepper. Set it aside for 2-3 hours and meanwhile start to prepare the stuffing. Boil the heart and the liver in slightly salted water. Then cut them into small pieces. Fry 1 cup of rice, already cleaned, washed and dried. Fry the boiled plucks with salt and black pepper to taste. Mix with the rice. Pour over 2 cups of the broth in which the plucks have been boiled. Boil until the rice absorbs all the water. Remove the sauce pot from the hob (or open fire) and add the spices – finely chopped parsley, thyme and oregano. Stuff the lamb with this mixture and stitch the cavity closed. Pour over liquified butter or sunflower oil. Put the stuffed lamb into a big baking dish and bake it in moderate oven. Put the “smilyanski” beans at the bottom of the baking dish with enough water. After the lamb has been cooked, take it out and portion it by cutting. Serve it with a side dish of fresh vegetables salad which goes well with the stuffing and the sauteed beans from the baking dish. Served with 2-3 stalks of fresh garlic in a side dich side and a small bowl with “colorful” salt (salt mixed with different spices). Chilled white wine is the best drink for this dish. Enjoy your meal and cheers!