Dobrujanski-Style Kapama

It is winter. It is cold. We have to think about fat reserves around our waist. I offer you a recipe that can help.

4 servings
Ingredients:

750 g pork/ shoulder, leg, neck/
500 g white chicken meat
400 g bacon
1 big Sauerkraut
1 cup Sauerkraut juice or warm water
2 tbsp lard or vegetable oil
Ground black pepper
Peppercorns
Salt

Method:

Remove the upper rough leaves of the sauerkraut. Chop them in small pieces. Spread part of them on the bottom of a lard- or oil-greased earthenware/glass/ pot. Shave off any thick part of central ribs of the remaining leaves. If leaves are big, halve them. Cut bacon in thin slices. Chop white meat in equal pieces. Season them with salt and black pepper. Wrap each white meat piece in a slice of bacon. Then wrap it in a sauerkraut leave like a sarma /roll/. Arrange half of the rolls/sarmi/ on the bottom of the pot. Arrange pieces of pork on top. They are seasoned with salt and black pepper. Place the remaining sarmi on top. Spread finely chopped sauerkraut leaves on top. Add 1 tbsp lard/oil/ and some peppercorns. Pour 1 cup warm water or 1 cup sauerkraut juice. Bake in a medium-heated oven for 2-3 hours.

Serve with sparkling wine and a jar of chilli peppers.

Bon Appetit!

Pie with Filling and Walnut - Caramel Syrup

Perfect for the summer with its fresh melon flavour and hint of cinnamon/ and ginger/

Ingredients:

3 eggs
2/3 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups mashed melon
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger

Syrup:

100 g margarine
1 2/3 cup sugar
½ cup ground walnuts

Method:

Whisk sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla and melon. In a bowl sift flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger. Mix well and add to the egg mixture. Pour the mixture in a greased cake pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 165 degrees C for 1 hour.
Syrup: Put margarine and sugar in the microwave for 3 min to melt and caramelize. Stir the mixture every minute. Add walnuts. Spread the syrup over the warm pie. Allow to cool down for 1 hour before it is served.

Enjoy your meal!

Grapefruit and Coconut Pie

A refreshing pie with grapefruit flavour.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
5-6 tbsp honey
2 cups flour
1 baking powder
2/3 cup melted butter
2/3 fresh grapefruit juice
1 tbsp finely grated grapefruit rind/or ½ tbsp if you worry it will be bitter/
3 tbsp coconut shavings

Method:

Whisk the egg whites. Melt honey over water bath. Cream yolks and honey for 5-10 min. Add melted butter in a trickle while stirring. Add grapefruit juice and grated rind. Add whites spoonful by spoonful. In a bowl sift flour and baking soda.
Add flour to the egg mixture. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture in a greased and dusted tin. Sprinkle with coconut shavings. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 10-15 min. Then lower heat to 150-160 degrees C. Bake for 30-40 min.

Serve with a cup of flavourful coffee.
Bon Appetit!

Chicken with Vegetables and Mushroom-and-Cream Sauce

A real treat for gourmets!

Ingredients:

500-600 g chicken breasts
450-500 frozen vegetables mix/ I use corn and peas/
2-3 carrots
1 package of instant mushroom cream-soup
700-800 g milk
10-15 fresh mushrooms
1 onion
1 small jar of sour cream
1 package of powdered garlic
Salt, black pepper
Fennel/optional/
Vegetable oil
1-2 tsp butter
Yellow cheese

Method:

Wash and season the chicken breasts with salt, black pepper and garlic. If necessary, hammer them with a wooden hammer. Stir-fry until golden brown in strongly heated oil/ a small amount/. Turn over occasionally to prevent juices from leaking out.
Melt some butter in a saucepan. Saute finely chopped onion, mushrooms, carrots chopped in cubes and finally the frozen vegetables.
Prepare the cream-soup according to the instruction on the package. Cook in milk. Use less amount of milk to make sauce rather than soup. I use 800 ml milk instead of 1 l water. When the sauce is ready, stir in sour cream, fennel, powdered garlic and vegetable mixture. If necessary, sprinkle with salt and grind ½ cube of instant soup/ chicken or mushroom/. Pour some tablespoonfuls of the sauce in a baking tin. Arrange the chicken breasts. Sprinkle with grated yellow cheese and cover with sauce. Repeat several times. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 20-30 min. until golden brown.

It tastes wonderful. Have a try!

Potato and Green Beans Stew

Ingredients:

1 kg potatoes
500-600 g green beans blanched
2-3 carrots
1 pepper
2 onions
4 tomatoes
3-4 cloves garlic
Fresh parsley
Fresh mint
1 tsp paprika/ to taste/
Vegetable oil
Salt

Method:

Fry or sauté the finely chopped onion, carrots and pepper. Sprinkle with paprika. Add some water. Stir in the roughly chopped potatoes. Allow to sauté for 10 min. Mash the tomatoes or chop them. Stir them in. Pour in 1-2 cups hot water. Keep covered over heat for 10-15 min. Add green beans. Sprinkle with salt and finely chopped mint. If necessary, add some hot water. You can add 1 tbsp flour diluted in water to thicken the sauce. If you don’t like floury meals, you can omit this. The stew is thick enough without flour. Cover the dish and allow to simmer over low heat until the vegetables are soft. 10 min before removing from heat add roughly chopped garlic. Serve sprinkled with finely chopped parsley.
The stew goes well with a glass of cold ayran.

Enjoy your meal!

Banana Cream Cake

More delicious than it looks!
It is one of the cheesecake family.
The layer is made from 4 wafers/ I use 1 package of wafers Borovets/ crushed, ½ package of biscuits/ Everest with walnuts/ crushed, 60 g ground walnuts and ½ stick butter. Mix well. Spoon the mixture on the bottom of a cake pan. If you want a bigger layer, use 1 package of biscuits and more butter.

Banana Cream:

Blend 500 g unsalted curds and 2 packages of Crema cheese/or 600 g curds/ with 1 ½ cup sugar/ the amount depends on your taste/ to dissolve the sugar. Add 1 small jar of sour cream, semolina/or flour/, 2 big ripe bananas mashed, 4 eggs, 1 capsule rum or vanilla essence. Mix well until the mixture is smooth. Pour over the layer. It is more liquid at first but when it is baked it thickens.
Wrap the bottom of the cake pan in foil and place in a baking tin with water. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about 50 min. Turn off the heat but do not remove the cake from the oven for at least 1 hour. Unmould the cake by running a knife around inside edge of the pan. Allow it to cool down for 3 hours. Put it in the fridge.

Cream frosting:

Blend 2 packages of Dr Oetker Ole vanilla cream and cold milk. In another bowl whip 1 small jar of liquid buttermilk. Mix some of it with the vanilla cream.
Spread a thin layer of whipped buttermilk over the cold cake. Top with 1-2 crushed wafers. Pour over the vanilla cream. Smooth top and sides with a spatula. Garnish the sides with finely crushed wafers. Use your imagination to garnish the top. I arrange rolled biscuits covered in melted chocolate.

Bon Appetit!

Stuffed Onion with Flavourful Stuffing

A recipe for gluttons! / I am one myself/
Ingredients:

8 equally big onions
250 g minced meat
Parsley
Some stalks green onion
3 cloves garlic
Salt, black pepper
yellow cheese

Beshamel sauce:

40 g flour
¼ package butter
Milk

Method:

Bake the unpeeled onions in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 40-50 min or in a microwave for about 10 min until it softens. Peel the onions, cut the top, remove the flesh and fill with stuffing.
Flavourful stuffing: Stir-fry minced meat. Add parsley, finely chopped green onion and 3 cloves of garlic. Season with salt and black pepper. Stir in Beshamel sauce.
Arrange the stuffed onions in a greased baking tin. Top each onion with some yellow cheese. Bake for 15-20 min. Serve with Beshamel sauce.
The most important ingredient in thе recipe is onion. I have used different sorts. Some are tender, others remain hard. Do not choose too big onions because they are too hard.

Enjoy your meal !

Carp and Kavakliiski-style Sauce Fried

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized carp cleaned and cut into rounds
1 bulb garlic
1 cup walnut finely chopped or crushed in a mortar
Cow-parsnip

Method:

Fry the carp until golden brown. Remove the pieces and arrange on grease-absorbing paper. Crush cloves of garlic with some salt. Put the garlic, walnuts and part of the oil in which the carp was fried in a china bowl. Blend well. Bring to the boil a cup of water. Stir the hot water in the mixture. The sauce turns white. Season with cow-parsnip. Pour the sauce over the fried carp. Serve with cabbage and corn salad. It goes well with white wine.

Enjoy your meal!

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Some delicious meatballs!

Ingredients:

600 g minced meat
2 slices of dry bread
1 egg
1-2 onions
½ bunch of parsley
Black pepper
Salt
Vegetable oil
Ingredients for the sauce:
1-2 onions
2 carrots
3-4 cloves garlic
½ bulb celery root
4 tomatoes
150 g tomato puree
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp paprika
Salt

Method:

Combine minced meat with grated onion, bread/it has rested in water or milk and is drained/, an egg, finely chopped parsley, black pepper and salt to taste. Blend well. Shape into meatballs as big as you like/ I prefer smaller ones/. Roll them into flour/ I omit this/ and flatten a little. Fry in strongly heated oil.
Saute finely grated carrots, celery and onion together with garlic. When they soften, stir in tomato puree and fry a little. Add mashed tomatoes and paprika. Dilute flour in water and pour into the sauce. If necessary, add some warm water to get medium thick sauce. Sprinkle with salt and let it simmer for 8-10 min over low heat. You can add 1 teaspoonful of sugar to make the sauce less sour. Put the meatballs into the sauce and keep over heat for 10-15 min.

Bon Appetit!

Lemon Pie with Syrup

A fluffy cream to sweeten your life!

Ingredients:

6 eggs
60-70 g softened butter
32 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
70-80 ml lemon juice
1 tbsp grated lemon rind
1 capsule lemon essence
2-3 jars of sour cream
Syrup:
½ package butter
1 jar of sour cream
Powdered sugar to taste
Lemon juice
Lemon rind

Method:

Cream butter with some of the sugar. Add eggs one at a time and the remaining sugar. Beat the mixture for 10 min. Gradually add sour cream, lemon juice and essence. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Pour egg mixture in a trickle in the bowl and blend until it gets homogeneous. Add grated lemon rind.
You can separate egg yolks from whites. Beat yolks with sugar and butter. Add flour. Beat the whites and add them to the mixture spoonful by spoonful. Bake the pie in a preheated oven at 180-190 degrees C. When it rises, lower the heat. Beat butter and powdered sugar until you get a fluffy cream. Gradually add sour cream and lemon juice. Add remaining sugar. It is about 300 gr. in the recipe but I think it is too much so I put sugar to taste. Top the pie with grated lemon rind.

Enjoy your meal!

Butter Walnut Biscuits with Lemon Cream

If you have wondered what to accompany your coffee and you are fed up with ready-made biscuits, this is the right recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup of softened butter
¾ cup of sugar
1 egg
1-2 packages vanilla
1-2 tsp grated lemon rind
2 ½ cup of flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup of finely ground walnuts
powdered sugar


Ingredients for the cream:

6 levelled tbsp softened butter
2 eggs
2 yolks
2 tsp grated lemon rind
2/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup of sugar
1 tbsp semolina/vanilla-flavoured or natural/

Method:

Lemon Cream:
In a bowl, cream butter and sugar for about 4-5 min. Add eggs and egg yolks one at a time. Beat for 2-3 min. Stir in lemon rind, lemon juice and semolina. Pour the mixture in a pot and keep over low heat. Stir constantly until it gets smooth. It takes 15 min. to thicken. Do not bring the mixture to the boil. Allow to cool down and place in the fridge covered with foil.
Cream butter and sugar. Add 1 egg, vanilla and lemon rind. Mix sifted flour, baking soda and salt. Stir flour in the mixture. Blend well. Cover the dough with foil and keep in the fridge for about 2 hours. Roll out 2/3/-cm sheet. Cut out biscuit shapes, half of them with a hole in the middle. Arrange on slightly greased baking paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for about 10 min. or until golden brown. Allow to cool down. Spread mixture on a biscuit and top it with another one. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. At first the biscuits are hard but they soften up in a few days when the cream is absorbed. Keep in the fridge.

Bon appetit!

Stuffed Aubergine

A Delicious Dish!

Ingredients:

4 aubergines
2-3 potatoes
2 tomatoes
1-2 peppers
1 onion
3-4 cloves garlic
100 g corn from a can
100 g yellow cheese
vegetable oil
Black pepper
Instant vegetable soup

Method:

Halve the aubergines lengthwise. Make some cuts in the flesh of the aubergine. Salt lavishly and allow to rest for 15-20 min. to release the bitter juice. Wash, scoop out the flesh and arrange the aubergine shells in a baking tin. Boil the potatoes and cut into pieces.
Saute the finely chopped onion, garlic and peppers. Add corn, potatoes, tomatoes and spices.
Fill each aubergine half with the mixture. Dissolve the instant vegetable soup in ½ l of water. Pour it in the baking tin. Bake at 180 C for 20 min. Sprinkle with grated yellow cheese and bake for some more time.

Enjoy your meal!

Walnut Honey Biscuits

Delicious honey biscuits for gourmets!

Ingredients:

1 cup of roughly chopped walnuts
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
3 tbsp honey
4-5 tbsp oil
1 tsp baking soda
Cinnamon
Flour


Method:

Whisk the eggs. Add sugar. Pour sunflower seed oil in a very thin trickle and stir in one direction. Add honey, cinnamon and sifted flour together with baking soda. Stir in walnuts. Knead dough. Roll out a sheet of pastry. Cut out biscuits of different shapes. Bake in a hot oven for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Bon Appetit!

Boiled Dried Beans

This is a classical dish!

Method:

Rinse 2 handfuls of dried beans. Place them in a pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil over medium heat. When the water turns yellow, pour it out and add cold water. Bring to the boil. Add 1 chopped onion, 1-2 peppers chopped, 1 carrot chopped, salt and 5-6 tbsp sunflower seed oil. Cook until the dried beans get tender. When the beans are ready, they are on the bottom of the pot. Before removing from the heat, stir in 1 tbsp paprika and mint.

Enjoy your meal!

Fried Cabbage

This is a light cabbage meal for fast days.

Method:

Chop the cabbage, sprinkle with salt and crush it. Pour some oil/ 1 cup/ into a pot and stir-fry a small onion. Add 1 tbsp paprika and 1 cup of water. Stir in the cabbage and keep over heat until the water is reduced. Stir it well to avoid burning.

Bon appetit!

Milk Banitsa

This is a very nourishing meal!

Ingredients:

5 sheets of filo pastry/ self-made/, 3 of them are slightly baked in the oven or over wood-burning stove.
1 l milk
3 eggs
Salt
1 cup of vegetable oil

Method:

Place one of the baked sheets in a greased baking tin. Roll two soft sheets and arrange around the sides of the baking tin. Crumble the second baked sheet in the middle of the tin. Bring the milk to the boil and whisk the eggs. Stir in the eggs and pour the mixture into the baking tin. Sprinkle with salt. Top the banitsa with the third baked sheet. Sprinkle some oil on top. Bake at 250 C until golden brown. Remove from the oven and wrap in a cloth. Serve cold.

Bon appetit!

Shopski-style Pipkins/Gyuvecheta/

I offer you a very delicious dish.

Ingredients:

0.600 kg low-salt cheese
2 onions or 1 bunch of green onion
100 g butter
4 tomatoes
4 eggs
4 chilli peppers/optional/
Paprika

Method:

Put some finely chopped onion into the greased pipkins. Arrange slices of cheese, sprinkle with paprika and cover with slices of tomatoes and finely chopped chilli peppers. Top with pieces of butter. Bake in the oven for about 15 min. Remove from the oven and crack 1 egg into each pipkin. Bake for 5 min.

Enjoy your meal!

Chicken Pockets

A spicy and tasty dish for gourmets!

Ingredients:

½ kg chicken breasts
Yellow cheese
Ham
Breadcrumbs
Paprika
Garlic flour/optional/
1 cup of white wine
1 instant chicken broth
100 g processed cheese
200 g sour cream
vegetable oil
Salt

Method:

Hammer the chicken breasts until they get thin. Place a thin slice of ham and yellow cheese over half of the steak. Fold the pocket and prick the edges with tooth sticks. Combine breadcrumbs with paprika and garlic flour. Roll the pockets in breadcrumbs. Fry in strongly heated oil until golden brown. Pour out excessive oil. Add wine and chicken broth. Cover and keep over lower heat for about 20 min (as long as it is necessary for the chicken to cook). Take out the pockets and remove the tooth sticks. Add processed cheese to the sauce. When it melts down, stir in some cream. If necessary, salt to taste. Pour some sauce over the chicken pockets. Serve warm with some garnish. I garnish them with mushrooms sautéed in butter with some parsley or fresh potatoes / slightly boiled and sautéed in butter/.

Bon appetit!

Mashed Potato Balls

Ingredients:

1 kg potatoes
2 eggs
1 onion
Flour or breadcrumbs
Savory, fennel, salt
vegetable oil

Method:

Boil, peel and mash the potatoes. Stir in 2 beaten eggs, grated onion, fennel, savory and salt to taste. Shape into medium-sized balls. Roll into flour or breadcrumbs. Fry in preheated oil until brown both sides. Remove from heat and place on grease – absorbing paper. Serve with yoghurt salad and tomato juice.

Bon appetit!

Diet Parfait

It is suitable for diet periods when we have to cut down on carbohydrates.

Ingredients:

2 jars of skimmed yoghurt 0.1 %
1 package of instant drink powder
2 packages of gelatin

Method:

Leave the gelatin to dissolve in 200 ml of water for 30 min. Warm the yoghurt in a bowl that is placed in a baking tin with hot water. Add the instant drink powder. When it dissolves, remove from heat. Put the gelatin in a bowl in a baking tin with hot water to dissolve completely and stir in the yoghurt and instant drink powder. Mix well and pour into suitable cooled dessert bowls. It takes two hours to get jellied.
The parfait does not contain any sugar.

Bon appetit!