Bulgarian Meal

A couple months back I tried this very beautiful Sunflower bread. It is baked for special occasions in Bulgaria. Other than this bread I did not know much about Bulgarian food. I was totally undecided on whether I could come up with a complete meal from a region about which I knew next to nothing.

Then I saw these peach cookies or Praskovki and my mind was made up. These cookies are so pretty. They are shaped and painted to look like peaches. I simply HAD to cook a meal from Bulgaria so I could try out these cookies.

As I researched some more I found out that a lot of different vegetables are grown in Bulgaria. I was very pleasantly surprised to find a host of vegetarian dishes with ingredients that I routinely stock up. I made shopska, a vegetarian salad that is very popular with the locals and tourist alike. It is very addictive for a dish with such simple ingredients so it is no surprise it is so popular. Though fresh vegetables play a big part, the cheese makes this dish. It is nothing like cheese we had tasted before. I would not try this dish unless you had the right cheese or else you would be eating something very different not shopska. :)

Cucumber salads are common in a large part of the world. Tarator (cold cucumber soup) is the Bulgarian variation. I rounded out the meal with patatnik (potato pancakes). My daughter loves potatoes so I have tried to make as many variations of potato dishes as possible. I also got a chance to try two new ingredients.

Sirene is a white cheese from Bulgaria made with sheep's milk. I visited the local Mediterranean store and found Rodopa brand Bulgarian Feta in brine. Research told me this was the cheese I was looking for. There is a lot of controversy on the use of the word 'Feta' in the European Union but I will side step that and focus on the taste of this cheese. The cheese comes soaking in brine and has a salty taste. But that is where the similarity with the feta cheese we get in the regular grocery stores in the US ends. This cheese is light and full of rich flavor and blends very well with the vegetables it is served with.

Rose hip jam is the second new ingredient I used. I found some rose hip butter at the local Mediterranean store. It turned out to be the kind of jam I like, not overtly sweet.

As they say in Bulgaria, Dobar Apetit!

Here are the recipe for the dishes on the menu

• Shopska (Vegetable Salad)
• Tarator (Cucumber Salad)
• Patatnik (Potato Pancake)

And for dessert

• Praskovki or peach cookies

This is my entry for the letter B for BM #44 for the theme Around the world in 30 Days. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#44.

Praskovki (Bulgarian Peach Cookies)

Praskovki, a peach shaped delicious cookie, is a specialty from Bulgaria.

The cookies are made with a moist sticky dough. Then their centers are scooped out and mixed with a buttery sugar and walnut filling. This filling is used as glue to get two cookies to stick to one another forming the shape of a peach. The cookie is then painted red and yellow to resemble a peach.

The filling is traditionally made with walnuts but I have lately developed an allergy to walnuts so I used almonds instead. I am sure that altered the taste but never having tasted the original we would never know. I did get a little carried away with the quantity. For some reason I did not realize I would end up with so many. But this is a make ahead cookie and it tastes better the next day. I refrigerated them and my daughter had them as dessert for a whole week.

The recipe was adapted from here

You will need
For the cookie
1 cup sugar
2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. yogurt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 cups all purpose flour

For the filling
1/2 cup crushed walnuts (I used almonds)
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
hollowed out crumbs from cookie center
2 tbsp. rose hip jam

To finish
4 tbsp. milk
a few drops red color
a few drops yellow color
sugar as needed to roll the finished cookie in

Combine the sugar and eggs in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add the vegetable oil, yogurt, baking powder and baking soda. Beat together to combine. Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour and knead well. The dough will be very sticky. Form a ball, cover and keep aside for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Mix in the reserved 1/2 cup of flour to the dough and knead well. Divide the dough into lime size portions and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Make sure you have an even number of cookies.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are cooked through but their color has not changed. The under side of the cookies may be brown but the tops should be white. Cook on a rack.

While the cookies are cooling make the filling. Crush the walnuts or almonds and combine with all the other ingredients.

Scoop out the center from the under side of the cooled cookie and add it to the filling. Repeat for all the cookies.

Fill the scooped out area of two cookies with the filling. Place them together back to back to form a peach. Wipe off any filling that oozes out but keep enough to let it show. Repeat with all the cookies.

To finish mix in the colors with the milk. This is your chance to let your inner artist bloom. Either make two bowls and color with yellow and red separately or mix them together and color the cookies orange. I did both.

Roll the painted cookie in sugar and place it in a muffin cup. The muffin cup prevents it from sticking until they are dry. Cover and keep aside overnight.

Enjoy!

Tarator (Bulgarian Cucumber Soup)

Tarator or cold cucumber salad is perfect for a hot summer day. What surprised me was how close in taste it is to cucumber koshimbir that we make in Maharashtra. The only difference was the use of crushed walnut and dill leaves instead of the peanuts and cilantro that we use.

The recipe called for walnuts but lately I have developed an allergy to walnuts so I used almonds instead.

Recipe adapted from here.

You will need
2 cucumber, chopped
2-3 springs dill, minced
2 cloves garlic (optional, I did not add any)
3 cups yogurt
10 - 12 walnuts, crushed (I used almonds)
salt to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

Mince the garlic , if using, and add to the yogurt. Whisk the yogurt and combine with the other ingredients in a bowl. Add water to adjust consistency if needed. Chill before serving.

Shopska (Vegetable Salad)

Shopska is a salad that is served covered with sirene cheese. It is very additive. It is little wonder it is so popular in Bulgaria. I have to say the cheese makes the dish giving the vegetables a lovely flavor that is hard to put into words.

I am glad I took the time to find this Bulgarian cheese in our local Mediterranean store. Sirene or Bulgarian Feta is not available by the name 'Feta' because of European politics. It is a white spongy cheese made from sheep or goat's milk. The cheese goes very well with the vegetables and the salad was amazingly good.

This recipe is mainly adapted from here and here. I read a lot of travelogues with pictures of this dish as presented in restaurants in Bulgaria and used that information for the presentation.

You will need
1 cup Sirene cheese (white sheep or goat cheese)
2 salad tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 red or yellow bell pepper
a bunch cilantro (the original uses parsley but we don't like it)
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt to taste if needed

Chop the tomatoes, pepper and cucumber. Mince the cilantro and combine it with the other chopped vegetables in a bowl. Add oil and mix together. Plate the vegetables and shred the cheese over the top. If needed add salt. I did not add any.

Patatnik (Bulgarian Potato Pancake)

Patatnik or potato pancake is very common in Europe. This is the Bulgarian variation. The addition of cheese and cilantro make the pancake very flavorful. They can be served as a side in a meal or even for breakfast.

The addition of sirene (white cheese) enhanced the flavor a lot. I cooked it on the stove top but Patatnik can also be baked in the oven. After I made these pancakes I invested in a cast iron pan. The next time I make them I will bake them in my cast iron pan.

Recipe adapted from here.

You will need
3-4 potatoes
1 egg
1/2 cup Sirene cheese
a bunch cilantro
a bunch parsley (I did not add any)
salt to taste

Olive oil for pan

Wash, peel and grate the potatoes. Combine with the other ingredients. Heat oil in a pan and add a thin layer of the potato mixture. Brown on both sides. Take it off the heat. Repeat with remaining potato mixture. Serve hot.

Bulgarian Sunflower Bread

Sunflower Bread is supposed to look like a sunflower. This recipe is made for special occasions in Bulgaria. It is a yeasted bread with yogurt added for softness and flavor.

I have always been in awe of breads that looked like more than a loaf. I had never tried to bake one before. Now that I have I think I will be doing this more often.

This recipe was adapted from this recipe. I played around with the proportions a little and did not use vinegar.

You will need
3 cups bread flour
1 cup yogurt
2 eggs
1/4 oz Fleischmann instant yeast
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tbsp. salt

1/2 tbsp. + 1/3 tsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter + some to grease the baking dish

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp. sesame seeds

Warm the milk. In a mixing bowl mix the milk, sugar, salt, 2 tbsp. bread flour and yeast. In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs. Add the yogurt and whisk together. Add the yeast mixture and olive oil. To this mixture add the flour a little at a time and form a dough. It will be fairly sticky. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

Cut a small ball of dough and keep aside. Divide the rest into 3 portions. Flour a working surface and roll one of the portions into a large disc about 10 in in diameter. Put a third of the butter over the top. 

Roll out the second portion to the same size. Place it on top of the first and apply half of the remaining butter over the top. Roll out the last portion and place it on the first two. Now roll out all three. Do not worry about the size. Keep rolling them out until they get to 1/4 inch in thickness.

Grease a 10 inch baking dish. Using a pizza cutter or a knife cut the disc in 16 pieces. 

Starting from the outer edge roll one of the pieces towards the center aligned on one of the edges. Place it in the baking dish. Repeat for the remaining 15 pieces. Place the ball of dough that was kept aside in the center.

Whisk together the egg yolk and 1/3 tsp. olive oil. Brush over the top of the dough. Sprinkle sesame seeds. Cover and let it rest for an hour. Preheat oven to 375 F.

Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Cover the top with foil and bake for another 5 minutes. A skewer inserted in the center should come out clean.

Let it rest for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

I baked this bread with the group We Knead to Bake. For the month of February the group decided to bake any bread as long as it was yeasted.