Borano: Adjarian Baked Cheese Omelette Recipe
Adjarian borano, an omelette with cheese, is probably the one great breakfast dish everyone should learn to make. It's tasty, filling and easy. Highly recommended!
A beautiful land in the south-west of the Caucasus, an autonomous republic within Georgia, buried in greenery and washed by the warm waters of the Black Sea — Adjara is an ancient land, unique and exotic.
Adjarian cuisine is very close to Georgian, though it has its own character and identity. The best Adjarian dishes are kharcho, fish in satsivi sauce, khinkali, Adjarian khachapuri, and borano — eggs baked with milk and young cheese.
In the mountains, dairy is the cornerstone of the cuisine, and borano is made from excellent local Adjarian cheese. Many will say borano is just an ordinary omelette. They will be both right and wrong. The way borano is cooked puts it closer to a cheese pie than to an omelette.
Adjarian cheese is probably the hardest part. But the Caucasus is famous for more than Adjarian cheese. There is suluguni, brynza, Imeretian cheese. Every region has its own soft cheese, tasty and special in its own way. You have plenty to choose from for your cheese omelette.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Young cheese (suluguni, brynza, Imeretian) 100 g
- Eggs 4
- Milk 100 ml
- Vegetable oil 1 tbsp
- Butter 1 tbsp
- Salt to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- If you are cooking for the whole family, scale up the ingredients proportionally, except the butter. It is only used to grease the dish, and this amount is enough for a much larger batch.
- Crack the eggs into a deep bowl and beat well with a whisk or a mixer on low speed. No need to beat until foamy. It is enough for the egg mixture to become smooth and well blended.
- Coarsely grate the young cheese and mix it with the eggs, adding salt to taste. Young cheese is a bit salty on its own, so you only need a little salt, or none at all. Go by your own taste.
- Add the vegetable oil and milk. Mix thoroughly so the omelette is smooth.
- Grease the inside of a baking dish generously and thoroughly with a piece of butter. Silicone molds with a steel frame have proven great for this: they bake perfectly and hold the shape of the dish! Pour the cheese and egg mixture into the dish.
- Put the dish with the egg mixture into an oven preheated to 150°C. This dish should bake, not fry, so keep the heat low. The eggs take up to 30 mins to set. The mixture sets near the sides first, then in the center — you can check it by eye. Don't worry about the omelette burning.
- Bake the omelette until a golden crust forms. This will take another 10-15 mins. If in doubt, gently pull the edge of the omelette away from the side of the dish with a knife and check how brown the bottom is. You can also put the dish under a hot grill for a few minutes. But you will hardly need to: the beaten eggs will bake to a beautiful crust on their own.
- Borano can be eaten cold or warm. It will be delicious either way.
- A few fresh herbs, to your taste, won't hurt.
| Yield: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 159 kcal per 100 g |
| Prep time: | 20 mins |
| Cook time: | 1 h 10 mins |
| Total time: | 1 h 30 mins |
| Category: | Main Dishes › Eggs and Omelets |
| Cuisine: | Georgian cuisine |
| Rating: |
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4.8
(5)
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