Börek, the Turkish wildcard food

 We are again faced with a recipe that is present practically throughout the Middle East, although it is in the Balkans and in Turkey where it is most commonly consumed. The origin of this dish is probably Turkish although the name seems to be a loan from Farsi (Persian). Balkan languages ​​have borrowed it from Turkish so that in Serbia it has become burek, in Albania Byrek and even in Crete a type of cake that has practically nothing to do with the original börek is called boureki.

There are countless types of börek: meat, cheese, spinach, etc. There are also those with sweet fillings (the baklava would be a type of börek). There are flat-shaped cakes, rolled, triangular, but the common denominator is always that it is a type of filled dough. The dough is phyllo called yufka in Turkey. It cannot be made with puff pastry, shortcrust pastry or anything that is not edged. Nowadays it is very easy to find this dough in any supermarket.

Börek can be very easy to make or it can be an ordeal. If you choose to make the phyllo pastry yourself, it will be a really complex preparation. I strongly advise you to buy phyllo or yufka pasta in specialized stores because for a modest price you will save yourself many failures.

Börek is a wild card food. It is easy to make and very versatile thanks to the large number of fillings it admits. That is why in the East you can find them at breakfast, lunch, snacks or dinner. When you don't know what to eat, börek is always a great ally.

We are going to make cheese börek just like the Turkish housewives do (who, by the way, also have a habit of buying yufka and practically only in the villages is it still made at home).

INGREDIENTS :

• 4 phyllo / yufka sheets
• 1 cup of natural yogurt without sugar, preferably Greek type
• 2 eggs
• 400 grams (approx 1 lbs)  feta cheese
• Chopped parsley

Let's review a little the kitchenware we have. The Turks have a kind of special pans to make börek. They are like paella pans without handles, metallic, round, with vertical walls about 2 or 3 centimeters deep (0.8-1.2 inches)  and 30 or 40 cm (12-15 inches) in diameter. I doubt that you can find them so try to use a rectangular metal tray that can go in the oven as seen in the image below.

Now beat the two eggs together with the yoghurt until smooth (you can use milk instead of yoghurt, but in Turkey it is made with yoghurt).

For the filling, put the feta cheese in water for half an hour so that it is not so salty. Then it is crumbled and mixed with very chopped parsley. Feta cheese is of Greek origin and I use it because you will not find the Turkish cheese that is usually used, which, on the other hand, is very similar to feta. If you don't like it because it's too strong, you can use ricotta. If you don't like parsley either, you can chop arugula or simply flavor it with a little oregano.

If you have frozen filo pastry, it is convenient to defrost it in the fridge, never outside. If you do it outside, the leaves will stick together. Filo pastry is sold in multi-sheet packages. Individual sheets are never or rarely used because they are too flimsy. At least two are grouped. When working with them, they are exposed to the outside for as little time as possible as they dry out and crack very easily. Therefore, when you have extended them, cover them with a damp cloth to avoid this problem.

Take the metal tray, spread it with butter and put a sheet of filo on the bottom. What is left is folded inwards. With a ladle of soup you wet the pasta with the mixture of yogurt and egg. Now the feta cheese with parsley is distributed. It is covered with a new sheet of filo pastry and again what is left over is folded inwards. We wet again with the yogurt-egg. Again we throw the cheese with parsley distributing well. We can make another layer in a similar way or directly finish it. To finish the börek, cover with another sheet of filo, fold inwards and cover with the yogurt and egg mixture. We can sprinkle black pepper, sesame seeds or as is.

Preheat the oven to 220 C (428 F)  and put the cake in for about 35-40 minutes. You will notice that the top sheet swells quite a bit so put it in the center or it will touch the roof of the oven. Once the time has elapsed, you take it out to serve it in portions, although it is also very good cold or at room temperature, which is the way many people taste it. If it is well done, it will be crispy on the outside, like puff pastry, while on the inside it will be tender and fresh.

Turkish baker making börek in his bakery

This type of börek and many others can be bought at any bakery, confectionery or pastry shop in Turkey. You will see that they have those special shelves that we have mentioned but of a huge size and they serve customers by weight, from individual portions to kilos of it. Börek is also made as individual cakes of the most varied shapes and sizes.

This is a dish that is worth doing, it is truly addictive.

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