Börek Turkish Pasties Recipes

TURKISH BOREK RECIPE

Steps:

• Make spinach filling. Combine the spinach, onion, spices, and herbs in sauce pan and cook for 5 minutes, just long enough to warm and combine ingredients. Let cool and drain excess liquid.
• Make egg wash for pastry. Beat eggs and add in sunflower oil and yougurt. Set aside.
• Decide on layering technique, and start layering your yufka or pastry dough, brushed with egg mxture, then spinach.
• Brush the remainder of egg wash on top and sides of borek, and sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.
• Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, until browned.
• Remove from oven and serve warm.

BOREKS (TURKISH PASTRIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Crumble the feta cheese, then mix feta with the chives (or dill), parsley, and pepper.
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Skim off any foam that accumulates.
• Cut the phyllo pastry sheets into 3-inch strips. Take one strip and cover the rest with a clean, damp cloth.
• Brush the first phyllo strip with melted butter, and place a teaspoon of feta/herb mixture on the bottom right corner of the phyllo sheet, about 1/4-inch from the edge.
• Pick up the bottom right corner of the phyllo sheet and fold it up and over the feta/herb mixture so the corner reaches the top edge of the phyllo sheet and forms a triangle. Keep folding the pastry over itself, being careful that the filling remains intact, until you reach the end of the phyllo sheet and have a triangle shaped pastry.
• Repeat steps #5 and #6, using remaining phyllo sheets and feta/herb mixture.
• Lay pastries on a baking sheet, and brush with remaining melted butter. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

TURKISH BOREK RECIPE (SIGARA BOREK)

Steps:

• First, know that yufka, like phyllo dough, is delicate and might break. That's completely okay.
• To make the spinach filling: Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Saute onion until golden, add spinach and cook until the spinach is wilted. Once the spinach is cool enough to handle, mix it with cheese, salt and pepper.
• To make potato filling: Wash and peel the potato. Cut it into large chunks and boil until fork tender. Mash the potato completely and add Aleppo pepper, salt and black pepper.
• To make the cheese filling: Mix cheese with parsley, salt and pepper.
• Place a triangle shaped yufka dough on a clean surface, with the wide side facing you. Wet your finger with water and moisten the edges. This will help the edges to stick while rolling.
• Add one to two tablespoon of filling one inch away from the wide edge and form it into a thin log.
• Fold the outer corners over the filling and roll the borek. Dip your index finger in water and wet the edges again and roll tightly. Set aside and continue with the remaining yufka and filling.
• Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a non stick pan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, place the boreks in the oil and fry on all sides until crispy and golden. Don't over crowd the pan. Place the boreks on a kitchen paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
• Continue with the remaining boreks and add more oil if needed.

BöREK - TURKISH PASTIES

Steps:

• To make dough: Melt butter. Add milk, sugar and salt. Check the temperature (it should be 35-37 C) and crumble yeast into the mixture. Add eggs and egg whites, stir. Gradually add flour; knead the dough for about five minutes or until it is smooth and elastic and starts to pull away from the edges of the bowl. Cover and let rise for 30-60 minutes.
• To make cheese filling: Finely chop onion and garlic. Heat oil in a pan and cook onion and garlic until softened. Let cool. Crumble feta in a bowl with a fork and mix all ingredients together into a paste.
• To make ground beef filling: Finely chop onion and garlic. Heat oil in a pan and cook onion, garlic and ground beef until browned. Add all remaining ingredients except for egg. Check the taste: the filling should taste fairly strong and salty. Let cool and finally mix in egg.
• Preheat oven to 225°C Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Oil the baking board and turn the dough on it. Divide the dough in half and cut each half into 8 pieces.
• Roll each piece out into an oval about ½ cm thick. Divide the fillings between the 16 ovals. Turn a few centimetres of the dough on top of the filling on each side and pinch the ends together tightly, so you have a boat-shaped pasty. (You can bring the sides quite close together, as the pasties "open" a bit as they bake). Carefully transfer the pasties on the baking sheet. Brush the sides with egg yolk and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.

TURKISH BOREK

Steps:

• In a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil over moderate heat. Add the peppers, pul biber and onions, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the beef and cook until the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 15 minutes. Transfer the vegetables and meat to a bowl and let cool slightly.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and lightly oil a 9- by 13-inch glass baking dish.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk and 1/2 cup of the canola oil. Lay a sheet of yufka on a work surface and brush with the egg mixture; repeat until you have a stack of 2 sheets. Transfer the stack to the baking dish and spread one-third of the beef mixture on top. Repeat the layering twice more with the brushed yufka sheets and beef filling, then end with a stack of brushed yufka.
• Trim the overhanging yufka slightly and tuck it under itself. Brush any remaining egg mixture on top of the borek, top with the nigella sativa seeds and bake until deeply golden on top and sizzling, about 45 minutes. Let the borek rest for 20 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.