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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Banitsa, the comfort food of the Balkans

I had a miserable day today, with a massive headache, lymph nodes the size of plums and a non-stop stream running out of my nose. I drowned in paracetamol (which only made me sleepy) and paper tissue--after three packs and a roll of toilet paper, I stopped counting. I will have to work for a year on my eco karma just to compensate for all the trees I killed today.

Anyway, to alleviate my misery I decided to make banitsa--a cheese-filled pastry dish which is common across the Balkans with some local variations. The Serbian version would be gibanitsa, which is practically the same dish except that it is thicker and greasier. I make it the Bulgarian way because it is much easier.

Both are related to their much more famous cousin, burek, a filled pastry made with thin dough and popular in the Arab world and all over the former Ottoman Empire. It is best when it is eaten with joghurt although some people (especially in Bulgaria) swear by boza, which is an acquired taste (I never met anyone who tried it for the first time as an adult and liked it--I think you need to have grown up with it). When I think of burek and joghurt my immediate association is manual workers eating breakfast, since this combination was a typical grub of the working classes, at least in soc times.

But back to banitsa--here is how you make it (from Wikipedia, I was too lazy to type):
In a large greased baking dish, individual sheets are layered one by one with small amounts of filling and vegetable oil between them. After half of the sheets are placed in the pan, a large portion of the filling is spooned onto the leaves and is then covered with the remaining sheets and filling in the same manner. The pastry is then baked at 200-250 degrees Celsius.
And here is the result:





I'm pleased to report that it was yummie and, although I'm still snotty and the headache shows no signs of going away, at least I enjoyed my food. Temporary alleviation of misery: accomplished.

10 comments:

I_am_Tulsa said...

Oh, gosh I ♥LOVE♥cheese.
That looks so delicious. I hope you start to feel better...I remember a month ago my horrible cold...

Just remember, you will get better... your body is telling you to rest, so rest!

I wish I could send you some ginger tea through the internet!

Delwyn said...

Jelica, so sorry you are feeling down...I hope that you can sleep it off. Lots of VC...

I loved the cheese and sultana blintzes (sp?) I had in Israel.
What is the filling - ricotta cheese?
Take care
Happy Days

Jelica said...

Thank you, Tulsa and Delwyn. It's one of those horrible cold$sore throat things that tend to strike me in the spring/summer. I have to cut down on those Cuba Libres (fizzy drink--no good) and, unfortunately, ice-cream...

The cheese that we use for banitsa is regular white, cow cheese, better known around the world as feta. Some people make it with spinach as well.

Dumdad said...

You're probably right about banitsa being an acquired taste by being introduced to it early - a bit like Bubble and Squeak or steak and kidney pie or - I've just made myself hungry!

Jelica said...

I think banitsa is universally delicious (how can you go wrong with a cheese pie, unless, of course, one doesn't like cheese) but the drink that usually goes with it in Bulgaria--boza, which is fermented wheat--is something you need to get used to. It has a weird brownish-grayish color and a muddy consistency. Not for me.

Seaside Girl said...

Sounds delicious but I would definitely give the grey mud drink a swerve. Hope you are feeling a little better today.

Polly said...

Yum, this does look delicious! I love cheese...

I hope you didn't eat the whole thing by yourself!

Ruslan said...

I confirm that the banitsa was very tasty. It's great to eat with yoghurt.

Jelica said...

And no, I didn't eat it by myself (Polly, you're overestimating my capacity :) but with a little help of Ruslan and the boys.

Lorac said...

Sorry to hear you are under the weather. The dish looks amazing but what is in the filling?