Cigarette Boureki
Cigarette Boureki. Best for eating, definitely not for smoking
Filo Pastry is an unleavened very thin dough which features in the cuisine of many Mediterranean, Balkan and middle eastern countries. Filo pastry, literally meaning 'leaf' pastry because it is as thin as, well, a leaf. This type of pastry has been used in Greece from the time before Christ and can be used to make almost anything, savoury or sweet. In Greece it is most famously used for making Tiro Pitta (Cheese Pie). In Middle eastern countries it is mostly used to make sweet things such as Baklava, a pie stuffed with nuts and soaked in honey or sugar syrup.In the Balkan they use it for making Bourek which are pies stuffed with anything from cabbage to minced meat, potatoe, cheese, green vegetables such as spinach or fruits like apples and cherries.In Turkey they do all of the above plus they came up with a clever little variation they call 'Cigarette Boureki'.
Servings: 10 portions
Cost: 2-3 US$
Equipment
- frying pan
Ingredients
- 50 gram Feta Cheese
- 1 whole egg
- 1 sheet filo pastry cut into triangles
- ⅓ tsp Salt
- ⅓ tsp black pepper ground
- 1 tsp of fresh mint finely chopped
- 2 tbsp yoghurt any type of yoghurt is fine
- 2 cups vegetable oil for shallow frying
- 1 tbsp egg wash/corn flour paste
Instructions
- Cut the filo pastry into triangles, with the long edge about 15-20cm in length.
- Beat all the other ingredients together with a whisk
- Spread about 1 tbsp feta cheese/mint filling (per triangle) along the long edge of the filo triangle in a thin, long line, leaving a 1 cm or so empty on the bottom and on the edges.
- Fold the right and left sides over the filling, then fold the bottom part over the filling, tuck it tightly and roll it up towards the pointy end.
- Brush egg white (or a corn flour/water paste) inside of the pointy end so that it seals when the rolling is done.
- Deep fry till golden brown and crispy.
