Gibanica

Ingredients

• 450 g filo pastry, about 12 sheets
• 500 g young white cheese or feta, crumbled
• 250 g cottage cheese or curd cheese
• 200 g soured cream
• 5 large eggs
• 150 ml sunflower oil
• 200 ml sparkling mineral water
• 50 g butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp salt

Before you cook

• Bring the filo to room temperature in its packet
• Crumble the white cheese finely into a large bowl
• Melt the butter and mix it with the sunflower oil in a jug
• Oil a 30 by 22 centimetre baking dish

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Beat the eggs into the crumbled cheese until you have a lumpy paste.
3. Stir in the cottage cheese, soured cream and salt.
4. Loosen the filling with 100 millilitres of the sparkling water until it pours thickly from a spoon.
5. Line the base of the dish with one whole sheet of filo and brush it with the oil and butter mixture.
6. Lay a second sheet on top and brush that one too.
7. Take a third sheet, dip your fingers in the filling, and dab it across the sheet in blobs.
8. Crumple the sheet loosely with your hands into a ruffled bundle and drop it into the dish.
9. Repeat with the remaining sheets, dabbing each with filling and crumpling it in, until the dish is filled with soft peaks and valleys.
10. Pour any leftover filling into the gaps between the crumpled sheets.
11. Lay one last whole sheet flat over the top and tuck its edges down the sides.
12. Brush the top with the remaining oil and butter.
13. Flick the remaining sparkling water across the surface with your fingers.
14. Bake for 40 minutes until the peaks are deep brown and the centre no longer wobbles when you shake the dish.
15. Cover the pie with a clean tea towel for 10 minutes to soften the top slightly.
16. Cut into squares and serve warm with yogurt.