BANITSA – BULGARIAN CHEESE PIE

BANITSA – BULGARIAN CHEESE PIE Had a delicious traditional Bulgarian dish. Would be good as a side dish with a braai too. 1 package of puff ( and herb flavour) 5 large eggs 1 cup plain yoghurt (Bulgarian yoghurt is the best, if you can find it! Greek will also work well. Full fat or low fat yoghurt works best; avoid nonfat if you can.) 1 tsp baking powder 375 g Bulgarian cheese, rinsed 1/2 cup sunflower oil (canola or grapeseed oil will work, too) pinch of salt Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

Using about 1-2 teaspoons of oil, grease the bottom and sides of a deep-lipped large pan. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Use your (clean) fingers to crumble the feta cheese over the eggs. Some of my friends who taught me to make banitsa prefer to shred their cheese with a cheese grater. It really doesn’t matter; I prefer to crumble it with my hands and have fewer dishes to wash. Just make sure you don’t have any huge chunks. Half an inch and smaller is ideal. Add the yoghurt, oil, baking powder, salt and whisk together until everything is blended. The batter will be lumpy because of the cheese. Don’t try to break up the lumps of cheese. That is part of what makes banitsa so delicious! Open the package of dough, from its plastic wrapper. Carefully unroll it on your countertop and roll out, cut into 3 pieces. Layer in dish with a third of mixture in between pastry. Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown. Recipe:Claire Grobbelaar Photo: Elize de Kock