Cookbook:Egg, Cheese and Phyllo Casserole (Banitsa)
| Egg, Cheese and Phyllo Casserole (Banitsa) | |
|---|---|
| Category | Pastry recipes |
| Servings | 2–3 |
| Difficulty |  |
Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Equipment | Techniques | Cookbook Disambiguation Pages | Recipes | Cuisine of Bulgaria
This is a popular dish from Bulgaria and can be eaten on its own or as part of a main meal. This recipe will serve 2–3 people and can be prepared in less than 1 hour. It is adapted from Ralitsa Roesing's kitchen.
Ingredients
[edit | edit source]- 2 packets phyllo dough (Bulgarian "fini kori" or phyllo from the frozen section)
- 200 grams kashkaval cheese (or a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella), cut in small pieces
- 500 grams sirene or feta cheese, crumbled
- 7 eggs
- 100 grams of butter
- ½ cup soda water
- 1 cup yogurt
Procedure
[edit | edit source]- Mix 6 of the eggs, the grated butter, both cheeses, and the yogurt.
- In a buttered pan, lay a layer of the phyllo dough, spread a layer of the mixture, and continue alternating layers so that the phyllo and the mixture are finished about the same time.
- Finish with a layer of phyllo dough on top.
- Cut the banitsa into serving pieces.
- Mix the last egg with the soda water, and stir well.
- Pour the egg mixture over the banitsa, and make sure there are no pieces of the phyllo dough left dry.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C (390 °F) for 40 minutes, or until golden. Enjoy!
Notes, tips, and variations
[edit | edit source]- For spinach banitsa, substitute 3 of the eggs with ½ kilogram spinach, washed, cut and lightly fried (no more than 5 minutes).
- For green onion banitsa, substitute 3 of the eggs with 5–10 stalks of green onion (about 1 cup chopped), lightly fried (no more than 10 minutes).
- Instead of piling the phyllo leaves on top of each other, you can just spread the mixture on the phyllo, top with a little soda and roll two of the leaves up around the mixture. The rolled phyllo is then aligned in a spiral in the pan. Sprinkle with some oil before baking.