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.

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.

TAVUK BOREK (TURKISH CHICKEN PASTRIES)

Steps:

• Steam the chicken breast over boiling water for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked, set aside to cool; then, once cooled, remove the skin and bones and finely chop the flesh.
• Heat the butter, add the flour and cook over a moderate heat for a few minutes, stirring. Gradually add the milk, bring to the boil, then immediately lower the heat and simmer over a low heat for 2 minutes and add the cinnamon and raisins and season to taste with salt and pepper. Then set aside to cool, covering the surface with a piece of plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. When the sauce is cool, stir through the chicken.
• Cut the pastry lengthways into three strips. Cover with a tea towel. Take one strip of pastry, brush lightly with oil and place a little filling at one end. Fold over end and sides and roll up neatly. Place seam side down on a greased baking tray. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling. Brush tops with a little oil and bake in a moderate oven (180°C; 350°F) for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.
• Serve warm.
• Note: To make the Borek as a main meal make double the quantity of filling, by following the instructions in steps 1 and 2. Leave the pastry whole, and use 3 lightly oiled sheets to line the base of a suitable lightly oiled pan. Once the filling mixture has cooled, place it over the pastry and cover it with 3 more lightly oiled sheets. Sprinkle it with water and lightly score the surface. Bake as in step 3 but for 35-40 minutes, or until golden.

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.