Baking, breakfast, cooking, Recipe
Published on January 30, 2017
Comments 13

Banitsa with Spinch

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When I visited Bulgaria with my husband, I tried banitsa for the first time. It’s a traditional breakfast in Bulgaria. I have heard there are more than 50 versions of banitsa. It could be savoury or sweet. It could be meaty or vegetarian. However, the basic one is made from fillo pastry, feta and eggs.img_1544

Normally, there are two ways of making it. The easiest way is to layer the fillo pastry and the filling. The alternative is to wrap the filling inside of the fillo and arrange the pastry in a circular pattern. Either way, the result is always good.

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The banitsa I had in Bulgaria was always very oily. It was way too much oil for my liking. Traditionally, it is made from butter which makes it so delicious. However, I am trying not to have too much butter at the moment. This time, I chose an olive oil only version with spinach and mint. I love the extra flavour from the spinach. Together with feta, it tastes so good.

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Also, I made it with the circular pattern in a round baking tray this time. It came out all right.

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Banitsa goes very well with greek yogurt. Can be eaten hot or cold.  I hope you guys like it. 🙂

INGREDIENTS

  • Eggs – 4 + 1 egg yolk
  • Spinach leaves – 200 g
  • Greek yogurt – 3 tbsp
  • Olive oil – 5 tbsp
  • Bulgarian Feta Cheese – 150 g
  • Fillo pastry – 12-14 sheets
  • Fresh Mint leaves – 2 tbsp, chopped roughly
  • Black Pepper and salt

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Cook the spinach leaves in a sauce pan over medium heat until soft.
  2. Once the spinach is cooked, remove from the heat. Set aside to cool completely.
  3. Whisk yogurt with 4 whole eggs until smooth. Add olive oil. Mix well.
  4. Crumble feta with your hands and add into the mixture. Don’t worry too much about the feta. It should be lumpy in the mixture.
  5. Add mint leaves, black pepper and salt. Mix well.
  6. Grease the baking tray. Preheat oven to 180°C.
  7. Take two fillo sheets. Scoop 1/6 of the egg mixture on the pastry. Brush gently to make sure the mixture cover the whole pastry. Scatter the cooked spinach leaves over.img_1525
  8. Tightly roll up fillo sheet to the other long side. Place the pastry in the centre of the baking tray and spiral around in a circle.
  9. Repeat with the rest of the pastry and filling.img_1526
  10. Brush the top with egg yolk.
  11. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
  12. Let it cool for 10 minutes and serve with Greek yogurt.img_1541
     

     

     

13 Comments

  4. risabuzatova says

    There are probably as many recipes for banitza as there are Bulgarians. Spinach is one of my favorites. My mother-in-law sometimes substituted dock/Rumex patientia L. (лапад), which many people think of as a weed, but which others simply think of as free food available to anyone willing to forage for it. Ditto for sorrel (киселец) and nettle (коприва), though these make for their own individual excellent soups rather than banitza. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

    Liked by 1 person

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