Börek - My Turkish Comfort Food

When we moved to Turkey three years ago I was not impressed with the "sweets" here. Nothing seemed to be sweet enough. With the exception of three very similar sweet desserts (baklava and two others that have the same sugar syrup topping) most, in my opinion, could use another 1/2 cup of sugar or so. I'm sure my sweet tooth might have something to do with the fact that I come from the land of Krispy Kreme, cinnamon rolls, and apple pie a la mode.  

Well, three years and one mediocre Dunkin Donuts that opened and already went out of business later...and I truly have grown to love the non-sweet Turkish foods. One food, made with pastry dough, has become somewhat of a comfort food to me. Börek is the general Turkish word for savory pastries (do we even have any savory pastries in the U.S.?). Börek can be made a bazillion ways, but it always involves phyllo dough, and usually involves feta cheese. 

Today, I was craving sigara boreği, a savory pastry rolled up like a cigarette, so I made some and thought I'd show you how to make some too. 

Ingredients:

1 onion

1 or 2 green peppers (not spicy)

1 or 2 sweet red peppers

fresh parsley

 sheets of triangular phyllo dough (or you can cut your own triangles. Phyllo dough is usually available in the freezer section next to the pie crusts in U.S. stores).

feta cheese

mild tasting cheese (grated)

Sauce:

2 eggs (but reserve 1 egg yolk for brushing the tops)

2 TBSP plain yogurt

1/4 cup olive oil

black cumin seeds or sesame seeds

First, I chopped up my onion, peppers, and parsley. Then I put the chopped vegetables in a frying pan with just a drop of olive oil and let it simmer until the vegetables became tender.

 Meanwhile, I put a hunk of feta cheese in a bowl and grated some kaşar (most similar to mozzarella) over it. I mashed them together with the back of a fork. 

 I added a couple shakes of spicy red pepper flakes and black pepper to the cheeses.

 Once my vegetables were tender I threw them in on top of the cheese mixture as well, and mixed them all together. 

In a small bowl I mixed 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1 whole egg, 1 egg white (reserve the yolk for later), and two TBSP of yogurt. 

On a baking sheet I laid out 1 triangle of phyllo dough and brushed some of the oily yogurt mixture on top of it (this is to prevent flaky dough). I then took a SECOND triangle of phyllo dough and put it directly on top of the first layer. I also wet that layer with the oily yogurt mixture.  

 I then took a couple spoonfuls of my veggie/cheese mixture and put it onto the wide end of the phyllo triangle. 

 I folded in the sides...

 and rolled it up (hence the name meaning "cigarette pastry"). 

 In the end they look a lot like egg rolls. Once they were all rolled up I brushed the remaining egg yolk on top of them and then sprinkled them with black cumin seeds (but sesame seeds work as well).

 I put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 mins (until they were golden on top). 

I then ate way too many of these in one sitting. 

Börek can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. Filling possibilities are endless so throw in whatever sounds good to you!