Bulgarian Main Courses Recipes and Descriptions

Bulgarian main courses tend to be simple affairs with lots of stews, spit-roasted or grilled chicken and sausages. Because of the contingent of Muslims in Bulgaria, grilled or casserole-cooked lamb is popular, but pork is eaten by Orthodox Christians and pork fat is widely used in cooking.

Traditional dishes include kavarma (a beef and calf's liver stew with tomatoes, onions and peppers), drob sarma (chopped lamb or calf's liver baked with rice and topped with an egg custard known as kalifka), sarmi (stuffed vine or cabbage leaves like Croatian / Serbian sarma), sardella (fish fillets baked with garlic, onions and black pepper), and plakiya and gyuvech (rich fish and meat stews).

Some regional specialties include kapama (meat, rice and sauekraut simmered and served in a clay pot) from the Bansko region, and midi tzigane (mussels sauteed with a spicy cheese and mustard sauce) from the Black Sea coast. A popular street and snack food, (similar to a Greek gyro only made with chicken) is known as a duner.

Carp, trout, sturgeon, pike, perch, bream, freshwater crayfish and catfish are common. Squid, octupus, mackerel, sardines, tuna and sea bass come from the Adriatic coast and scad, a small oil fish comes from the Black Sea. Preparations vary from plates of mixed fried fish to fish soups with wine, garlic, rosemary and olive oil.

Bulgarian main course recipes include:

• Bulgarian Drob Sarma