Top 10 Bulgarian Dishes

Bulgaria easily shares traditions and culture with tourists. The best way to get to know the country is to try national dishes.
Although Bulgarian dishes are similar to Greek and Turkish dishes, they are still distinguished by a great abundance of spices, herbs, and vegetables, as well as a special way of cooking. Main dishes of meat or fish are cooked over charcoal or simmered over low heat for several hours. Another feature of Bulgarian cuisine is the richness of the dishes and the use of a large amount of fat.

Banitsa

Unusual layered pie stuffed with stewed cabbage, feta cheese, lamb, and more. In the classic recipe, the dough is spirally laid out in a round shape and baked. There is a filling inside each turn of the spiral. Banitsa is served as a separate dish or as a hot snack for salad, meat, baked vegetables. You can try the pie in many bakeries, cafes, and restaurants of national cuisine.

Tarator

This is the Bulgarian version of the cold soup. Tarator is a cold summer soup seasoned with locally produced yogurt. You must add fresh cucumber, dill, walnuts, and garlic to it. In hot weather, ice chips are also added. A light first course is usually served before or with the main course. If the tarator comes out very liquid, it is poured into a drinking glass.

Kapama

Kapama is a multi-meat stew and homemade sausage. They also put sarma (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.

Bulgarian Moussaka

The principle of making moussaka is reminiscent of lasagna. This is a flaky dish where minced lamb is laid out along with potatoes or eggplants and baked in an abundance of sauce. The creamy sauce is most often used, but there are also options with tomato sauce. Sometimes cheese is added at the end of cooking. It is believed that traditionally the Bulgarian moussaka was prepared from meat, potatoes, and eggs, but today this dish is served in Bulgaria in all the variety of Balkan cuisine.

Bob Chorba

Spicy, hearty soup made with beans or other legumes. It is often prepared like tomato soup. When the meat of one or more types is added to the soup, the dish becomes thick and resembles goulash soup. There’s also the lean bob chorba recipe. In addition to legumes, various vegetables are put in the soup: tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, eggplant, potatoes.

Shopsky Salad

This vegetable salad consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, fresh or fried bell peppers, spices, and cheese. The dish is dressed with vegetable oil, now most often olive oil. The salad, without which the cuisine of Bulgaria 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 Saps. Over time, the recipe changed many times and gained more and more popularity, spreading throughout the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

Sarmi

Sarmi is the generic name for stuffed leaves. “Summer” sarmis are called grapevine leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice, similar to Caucasian dolma. “Winter” sarmis are made from sauerkraut leaves and resemble stuffed cabbage. In any case, the dish is served with a fermented milk sauce based on Bulgarian yogurt.

Guvech

Guvech is a beef and vegetable stew that is baked in a clay pot. The baking dish is also called guvech and is a traditional gift at Bulgarian weddings. The stew must include meat, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes. Eggplant, squash, carrots, and green beans are also sometimes added. At the end of cooking, usually put in the pot kashkaval sheep cheese.

Tsatsa

Tsatsa is typical street food in the seaside regions of Bulgaria. The dish is fried small sea fish: sprat, capelin, anchovy. The fish is fried in a large amount of oil, and before that, it is rolled in flour or breadcrumbs. Once a fisherman’s meal, tsatsa has become a fashionable snack. Now it is sold not only on the street but also for beer in pubs.

Bulgarian Cheese and Sausage

There are several traditional types of cheese in Bulgaria. First of all, this is a sirene or Bulgarian cheese.

A real sirene is made 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 comes in many varieties, from soft cheese that is spread on bread to easily crumbly options for salads.

Lukanka is considered the national sausage product in Bulgaria. It resembles a salami with spices and herbs. Many regions have their own recipes for Lucanca sausage, some of them are patented and unique.