When you buy an old village house in Bulgaria you will often see that it has an earthen oven in the garden or outhouse. However, they are often damaged and need repairing or even re-building! Have you ever thought how this can be done? Well read on and learn how you will be the earthen oven maestro of the village you choose to live in, here in Bulgaria. An oven is just a hole in the ground – light a fire, heat it up, and bake! An earthen oven is about that complicated. If you made mud pies when you were a kid, you can make a beautiful mud oven. You can also do it for nothing (or next to it), and it will work as well as a custom-built masonry or ceramic model costing thousands. Earth is not only more common, safe, cheap, and easier than brick, it’s also more environmentally friendly and, I think, beautiful. The three basic steps to oven-making are: Make a pile of damp sand, and pat into a hemisphere. Cover with a layer or three of mud. Cut out a doorway and remove the sand. If you fire-dry it, you can bake tomorrow. To [...]
Bulgarian Recipes
Halloween Recipes to make at Home (part 5/5)… Spicy Chicken Wings
From gory treats for the kids to elegant canapés, these recipes will raise party spirits this Halloween whether you are celebrating in Veliko Tarnovo or at home, entertaining your friends and family… ‘Devilled’ food is cooked in a spicy sauce made from mustard and cayenne pepper. For an even quicker take on this, make spicy chicken wings. They are cheap, make great finger food and have a sweet but fiery taste. Just roast chicken wings until cooked, take out of the oven and brush over some sweet chilli sauce or chilli jelly. Leave out of the oven and the sauce will melt and glaze the wings. Adults love them and for children, you could always rename them ‘Vampire Wings’ to fit in with the theme. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends from Merdanya, Gostilitsa, Elena, Kutsina and Mihaltsi. Yantra Homes wishes you all a Happy Halloween !!!
Halloween Recipes to make at Home (part 3/5)… Individual Worm Jellies
From gory treats for the kids to elegant canapés, these recipes will raise party spirits this Halloween whether you are celebrating in Veliko Tarnovo or at home, entertaining your friends and family… For an easy, no-fuss Halloween pudding, serve up these worm jellies for kids. They’re cheap, quick and simple to make. Make up a jelly of your choice according to the instructions on the packet. Orange, lime and strawberry are all great flavours and colours for Halloween. Once the jelly has dissolved in the warm liquid, pour into small serving glasses and poke a Halloween-themed worm sweet in a contrasting colour into the glass. Bend the tip of the worm so that it fits over the top of the glass to keep it steady, and refrigerate until set. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends from Tser0va Koriya, Dichin, Resen, Novo Selo and Dobromirka . Yantra Homes wishes you all a Happy Halloween !!!
Halloween Recipes to make at Home (part 2/5)… Mummy’s Fingers
From gory treats for the kids to elegant canapés, these recipes will raise party spirits this Halloween whether you are celebrating in Veliko Tarnovo or at home, entertaining your friends and family… Halloween is all about gore and kids will love these Mummy’s Fingers, a fun twist on a simple sausage roll recipe with puff pastry as the Mummy’s ‘bandages’. Roll out a block of shop-bought puff pastry on a floured surface, to about 3mm thick. Cut into 12 long, thin strips about 1cm wide and 10cm long. (You can freeze any leftover pastry as long it’s not been previously frozen.) Brush one side of the pastry with beaten egg and scatter over some freshly-grated Parmesan. Wrap each pastry strip around a chipolata sausage, leaving some of the sausage exposed and place on a baking tray. Brush with the remaining beaten egg and bake at 180°C for around 15 minutes, until they are cooked through and the pastry is puffed up and golden. Cool slightly and cut fingernail shapes from gherkins, red peppers or olives and place on the end of the sausage rolls. Serve with some glossy red ketchup for dipping. I will be sharing this recipe with my [...]
Halloween Recipes to make at Home (part 1/5)… Angry Fairy Cocktail
From gory treats for the kids to elegant canapés, these recipes will raise party spirits this Halloween whether you are celebrating in Veliko Tarnovo or at home, entertaining your friends and family… Halloween Cocktail – themed as the Angry Fairy Cocktail. The drink has been created by the team at Dirty Martini in Covent Garden, London and let us in on the recipe, for you to make it at your home. Measure the following into a chilled cocktail mixing glass: 30ml Tanqueray Gin, 15ml Cointreau, 10ml Absinthe, 10ml freshly squeezed lemon juice and 10ml sugar syrup. Dip the rim of a chilled Martini glass into some sugar. Shake the ingredients together and double strain into the chilled glass, before garnishing with some orange zest. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends from Veliko Tarnovo, Shemshevo, Malki Chiflik, Arbanassi, Debelets, Belyakovets, Velchevo and Prisovo. Yantra Homes wishes you all a Happy Halloween !!!
Bulgarian Ljutenitsa
Anybody at my age remembers the childhood not only with playing in the fields but with some very nice typically Bulgarian flavors and the one that takes me back to my grandparents wonderfully traditional Bulgarian property every year if I have time of course, is the Ljutenitsa flavor. The process of making Bulgarian Ljutenitsa and the preparation to last till the spring next year takes at least 2 days or x 2 depending on the quantity! My grandma always does it for her 2 daughters who are married and half of the kids are now married as well, so imagine how many Ljutenitsa jars are made every year in the end of the summer (the Bulgarian weather changes now, but lets say the good period is no later than mid of September). The best ljutenitsa flavor comes from having fresh, home grown vegetables (or bought from the neighbors if the garden is not big enough to be sure they are natural with no chemicals) and of course is due to the love and care put in it like my grandma says. Nowadays, living in a Bulgarian apartment in town it is impossible for me to make as many ljutenitsa jams [...]
Bulgaria – Cost of living
When buying a Bulgarian Property, one of the most common questions that buyers ask is how much everyday things cost. The answer, as always, is as much or as little as you want and is totally dependent on your lifestyle and whether you want to adapt to the way of life in Bulgaria. Bulgarian food is very much like Greek and Turkish cuisine with grilled or barbequed meats and salads during the summer months and hearty stews during the winter. Tomatoes and cucumbers seem to be the mainstay of any Bulgarian meal, being the main ingredients of the obligatory ‘Shopka’ salad which is topped off with Сирене (sirenay) cheese – a mild creamy cheese akin to Feta. Yoghurt is also a firm favourite in Bulgaria and is an ingredient in many dishes, the most famous being Таратор (Tarator), a cold soup made from yoghurt, water and cucumbers. Another component of the Bulgarian diet is the sausage in all their various shapes and forms. Dried Lukanka and Sudjuk sausage, usually eaten finely sliced as part of an appetizer or meze. The skinless Kebabche sausage eaten grilled, baked or fried, on their own or with chips. Fresh, cooked or smoked sausages, in fact every variety of sausage you could [...]
