Shopska salad the bulgarian national salad

Shopska Salad – The Bulgarian national salad

6 Comments / Bulgarian /

Shopska salad, the Bulgarian national salad, if there can be such a thing, uses all the colors of the Bulgarian flag in its primary ingredients: green cucumbers, red tomatoes and white sirene (сирене), or Bulgarian feta cheese. Other ingredients may include onion, peppers (both sweet and hot), and olives. Typical seasonings are salt, pepper, fresh parsley, sunflower oil and vinegar. My version contains all these except olives but feel free to add any kind of olives you like to your shopska salad (kalamata would be very tasty and very authentic).

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Okroshka Russian summer soup with kvass

Okroshka Russian Summer Soup

Leave a Comment / Russian /

Okroshka (окро́шка) is a refreshing soup served cold. I call okroshka Russian summer soup because warm weather is the perfect time to serve it. We can make okroshka in two primary ways. For the first method we use kvass as the liquid instead of a traditional soup broth. In the second method we use kefir, a kind of drinkable yogurt, as the broth. I will dedicate another post to kefir itself; we’ve already explored making kvass. You can find both versions of the okroshka recipe at the end of this post . The preparation techniques and ingredients, save for the “broth,” remain nearly the identical.

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Polish sausage kiełbasa biała

Polish sausage kiełbasa biała

1 Comment / Polish /

Polish sausage kiełbasa biała (“white sausage”) is a fresh sausage usually made from pork and spiced with simply with garlic, marjoram, salt and pepper. Kielbasa is Polish for all sausage in general though it is most often associated with this type of sausage, often just called “Polish sausage” in English. Sausage is prevalent in Polish cuisine, varying by region and even by family. I adapted my recipe from one belonging to a Polish-American family in the Chicago area. It is fitting that I introduce kielbasa as the first Polish entry on Feastern Europe.

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Banitsa Bulgarian cheese pastry

Banitsa the Bulgarian feta cheese pastry

3 Comments / Bulgarian /

Banitsa, the Bulgarian feta cheese pastry, is ubiquitous in Bulgarian life. After living in Sofia for nearly a year, banitsa is the first food I missed upon returning home. This is the recipe I wanted to share with the world and the reason I started thinking about writing this blog. In Bulgaria there was a small kiosk outside my apartment building that sold warm banitsa. So I had a ready supply whenever I wanted a taste–which was often. However, I had to get there early because they would sell out daily. I would also find banitsa in other kiosks throughout the city, or sold from vendor windows along the sidewalks, or in cafes, or in people’s homes…as I said, it was ubiquitous.

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Steps in making Czech dumplings knedlíky

Czech dumplings knedlíky

Leave a Comment / Czech, Slovak /

Czech dumplings knedlíky are related, like the word, to the German Knödel. Our own English “noodle” comes to us via German Nudel, which itself is probably derived from Knödel. You can see the similarity between a noodle and a dumpling: both are dough that cook in water (boiled or steamed). And you often serve both in soups, sauces and stews. The Slovak knedle are virtually the same thing, steamed dumplings that form an essential part of the national cuisine even if they are only “side dishes.” They make an excellent accompaniment to goulash or other saucy dishes.

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Making homemade kvass steps

Kvass Sparkling fermented drink

1 Comment / Russian, Ukrainian /

Kvass sparkling fermented drink may seem strange at first to someone raised on sweet carbonated soft drinks. I remember being told it’s like beer made from bread. Considering the commonality of yeast in bread and beer, it’s not really all that strange. But kvass (квас) really has more in common with soft drinks than with beer, despite the pungent yeasty note as you bring the glass to your lips for a sip. It’s really quite refreshing and effervescent.

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