Here are four easy to cook, delicious and traditional Bulgarian Christmas Eve recipes, beginning with the round loaf (don’t forget the silver coin!)
ROUND LOAF
Ingredients: 1 kg flour; 1 match-box sized yeast cube; ½ teaspoon sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 vegetable oil
Preparation: Sift the flour twice, make a well in the centre then fill with the yeast (dissolved in a small amount of water) and sugar. Add the salt and make a dough, placing a scalded silver coin in the middle. Bake in a lightly buttered dish until it turns slightly golden, then spread with sugared water and bake for ten more minutes.
For your main dish on Christmas Eve you can prepare stuffed cabbage or vine leaves.
STUFFED CABBAGE/VINE LEAVES
Ingredients: 10-15 pickled cabbage/vine leaves; 4 onions; salt; pepper; 1 coffeecup rice; 2 red tomatoes - fresh or tinned; 1 coffee cup of chopped parsley; 2 fresh peppers (preferably red); 1 carrot; 1 ½ coffee cup vegetable oil
Preparation: Chop the onions, fresh peppers and carrot, salt to taste then brown in vegetable oil. When onion softens add the rice, cleaned, washed and dried, then the tomatoes (peeled and grated), pepper and chopped parsley . Mix well. Fill the cabbage leaves, wrap them tightly then cover the bottom of the cooking pot with sauerkraut and arrange the stuffed leaves on top. Cover with water and sauerkraut juice in equal proportions, or just warm water; stew on low heat until the leaves soften.
A delicious and very important part of the traditional Bulgarian Christmas Eve meal is boiled wheat, which represents the life cycle of nature and is a great dessert all year round.
Preparation: Remove impurities from wheat and wash. Pour cold water over it and boil until soft, then cover the pot with a twice folded towel and allow to “swell”. Drain the remaining water and mix the wheat with the sugar and walnuts. NB If you use soft sugar it will melt more easily.
Another easy to cook and delicious dish, served at the Christmas Eve table in many Bulgarian homes, is the Oshav or stewed dried fruit.
Preparation: Wash the dried fruit well, soak in cold water and leave overnight. Boil in the same water until it becomes soft. Add sugar or honey to taste.
