National cuisine of Bulgaria , which is based on Balkan, Greek and Turkish gastronomic traditions, has much in common with the cuisines of neighboring peoples, as well as its own distinctive features. Bulgarian cuisine is characterized by food combinations that are familiar to us.
For hot and main dishes it is:
- meat (veal, pork, lamb);
- vegetables (tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants, potatoes);
- legumes;
- rice;
- eggs and cheese;
- abundance of spices.
For salads, fresh and salted vegetables, local fermented milk products, including yoghurts are used as a dressing.
Traditionally served for dessert:
- sweet pies;
- baklava;
- rose jam.
To have time to get acquainted with the local cuisine during your vacation, we suggest trying the best national dishes of Bulgaria .
Banitsa
An unusual layer pie filled with stewed cabbage, feta cheese, lamb and more. In the classic recipe, the dough is laid out in a spiral into a round pan and baked. Inside each turn of the spiral there is a filling.
Banitsa is served as an independent dish or as a hot appetizer with salad, meat, and baked vegetables. You can try the pie in many bakeries , cafes and restaurants serving national cuisine in Bulgaria.
Tarator
This is the Bulgarian version of okroshka with fewer ingredients . Tarator is a cold summer soup seasoned with locally produced yoghurt. Fresh cucumber, dill, walnuts and garlic must be added to it.
In hot weather, crushed ice is also added. A light first course is usually served before or at the same time as the main course. If the tarator is very liquid, it is taken out in a drinking glass.
Kapama
Kapama is a stew with several types of meat , as well as homemade sausage. They also put sarmite ( Bulgarian cabbage rolls with rice and meat filling) in the kapama. All this is baked in layers with sauerkraut for several hours in a clay pot. Kalama is a traditional New Year’s dish in Bulgaria .
Moussaka in Bulgarian
The principle of preparing moussaka is similar to lasagna. This is a layered dish where minced lamb is laid out along with potatoes or eggplants and baked in a generous amount of sauce. Most often, cream sauce is used, but there are also options with tomato.
Sometimes cheese is added at the end of cooking. It is believed that traditionally Bulgarian moussaka was made from meat, potatoes and eggs, but today in Bulgaria this dish is served in all the variety of Balkan cuisine.
Bob Ciorba
Spicy hearty soup with beans or other legumes. Often prepared as tomato soup . When one or more types of meat are added to the soup, the dish becomes thick and resembles goulash soup.
There is also a Lenten bob chobra recipe . In addition to legumes, various vegetables are added to the soup: tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, eggplant, potatoes.
Shopski salad
This vegetable salad consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, fresh or fried bell peppers, spices and cheese: feta cheese, sirene or feta. The dish is seasoned with vegetable oil, now most often olive oil.
Salad, without which Bulgarian cuisine is impossible , appeared in the west of the country. An ethnic group of Shops lived there, descendants, according to one version, of the Thracian tribe of Sapi . Over time, the recipe changed many times and became increasingly popular, spreading throughout the Balkans and Eastern Europe.
Sarmi
Sarmi is a generic name for stuffed leaves. “Summer” sarmi (lozovi sarmi) are vine leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice, similar to Caucasian dolma.
“Winter” sarmi (zelevi sarmi) is made from sauerkraut leaves and resembles cabbage rolls. In any case, the dish is served with fermented milk sauce based on Bulgarian yogurt.
Gyuvech
Gyuvech is a meat stew made from beef and vegetables , which is baked in a clay pot . Baking dishes are also called gyuvech and are a traditional gift at Bulgarian weddings.
The stew must include meat , mushrooms, bell peppers, onions and tomatoes. Eggplant, zucchini, carrots and green beans are also sometimes added. At the end of cooking , sheep’s Kashkaval cheese is usually placed in the pot .
Tsatsa
Tsatsa is a typical street food from the coastal regions of Bulgaria. The dish is fried small sea fish: sprat, capelin, anchovy and anchovy.
The fish is fried in a large amount of oil , and before that it is rolled in flour or breadcrumbs. Once the food of fishermen, tsatsa has become a fashionable snack. Now it is sold not only on the street, but also with beer in pubs and bars.
Bulgarian cheese and sausage
Bulgaria has several traditional varieties of cheese. First of all, it is sirene or Bulgarian cheese. Although this name is also not entirely correct, since only a couple of types of siren are related to feta cheese.
Real siren is prepared from cow, sheep and goat milk , as well as from their mixtures of different proportions. The fat content of this cheese is 40–50%. Sirene has many varieties: from a soft cheese that is spread on bread to easily crumbled options for salads.
Lukanka is considered the national sausage in Bulgaria . It resembles salami with spices and herbs. Many regions have their own recipes for Lukanka sausage, some of them are patented and unique.