Mekiza
Mekiza ( Bulgarian Мекица ; mostly in the plural: Мекици / Mekizi) is a traditional dough dish (or pastry) of Bulgarian cuisine, which is also known in other Balkan countries . It is a kind of unfilled donut .
They are preferably sprinkled with powdered sugar, sweetened more rarely with jam or honey, and sometimes with Bulgarian sheep cheese (Bjalo Salamureno Sirene). Mekizi are usually eaten as a snack.
The dough made from eggs, milk or yoghurt, yeast or soda , sunflower oil, salt and sugar is left to rest for a while after being mixed so that it " rises ". Then small pieces of dough are rolled out very thinly, mostly into round shapes with a diameter of approx. 15 cm, and deep-fried in plenty of fat . The fat has to be very hot for the mekizi to float and rise properly. They are fried very crispy. Since the rolled out dough pieces are then usually shaped again with the fingers, they are a little thinner in the middle. When deep-frying, therefore, usually only the edge opens, while the middle remains particularly crisp and thin and sometimes even has holes. Mekizi are often sold on the street in Bulgaria , they are eaten warm and with bosa .
The various existing recipes differ mainly in the amount and type of milk and the "rising". In Silistra the dough is mixed with yoghurt and soda as a leavening agent and then left to rise for 30 minutes, in ajtos with milk and yeast. If the dough is made with yeast, the yeast must first be mixed with a little water and flour to a pulp and then "rise" in the warm. Brine cheese is also occasionally stirred into the batter.
The name "Mekiza" is derived from the Bulgarian word for "soft" (мек / mek) and refers to the texture of the food. The ending "-iza" is a Slavic suffix for female nouns.
The Mekizi in Bulgarian cuisine correspond to the Lángos in Hungarian cuisine, but they are also served unsweetened, with sauces (mayonnaise, lecho, etc.) and are generously sprinkled with cheese and garlic. Similar to Mekizi are the Knieküchle in Franconian cuisine, the lard cakes in Northern Germany and the Fasnachtskiechli in Switzerland.