Gibanica

Method

1. Heat 3–4 tablespoons of oil in a pan and fry the finely chopped onion until lightly coloured.
2. Add the minced meat, break it up with a fork and fry. Once cooked, add a tablespoon of seasoning and a little black pepper, stir, and set aside for about 5 minutes to cool.
3. To the cooled meat add the 2 eggs and the sour cream or yoghurt, and mix until loose. It must be cooled — on hot meat the eggs set on contact.
4. Put some oil in a small cup and take a teaspoon. Grease a rectangular tin well and all over (or a round one, only not too small).
5. Lay a sheet, then flick oil over it with the teaspoon. Carry on that way until half the sheets are used. Spread the meat over, then sheet and oil again until all are used. On the last sheet use more oil than on the others.
6. Use no less than half a cup of oil and no more than a whole one — with less the sheets stay dry, with more the gibanica turns greasy.
7. Bake in a hot oven at 240 °C until the top sheet has reddened, about 35–40 minutes.
8. For cheese gibanica: beat the eggs, add crumbled cheese and sour cream or yoghurt, mix, and layer the same way. For cheese and spinach: wash the spinach leaf by leaf, chop it finely, fry it in a little oil and add it to the cheese mixture. Baking is the same.