The Paçanga Böreği are phyllo dough rolls (börek*), called yufka, filled with Kasar cheese, pastirma, tomatoes, and/or peppers.
The yufka is the phyllo dough, but also a type of traditional bread in Turkish cuisine (yufka ekmeği, generally called just yufka).
The Kasar cheese is a semi-hard yellow cheese similar to cheddar and is made from sheep’s milk.
It is widely used in Turkey for desserts and in general cooking.
It can be replaced with gouda, cheddar, or any other semi-hard cheese.
The Pastirma is an air-dried cured beef with a spice coating called “cemen” based on cumin, fenugreek, garlic, and chili flakes.
In Turkey, pastirma is consumed at breakfast with eggs (as in Egypt) and there are more than 22 types. In Arab and Turkish territories, it remains one of the main foods, used to fill pita and is associated with pastrami.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz pastirma (or pastrami)
- 7 oz Kasar (or cheddar or gouda)
- 1 tomato (and/or 1 red pepper)
- 1 onion
- to taste parsley
- to taste salt and pepper
- 6 sheets phyllo dough
- to taste vegetable oil
- 1 egg yolk
Steps
For the filling: mix the ingredients.
Overlap 3 sheets of phyllo dough and cut them into 4 triangles. Fill each triangle with the filling and roll the dough over itself.
Repeat 2 times.
Brush with the egg yolk.
Fry in plenty of oil.
Or for a baked version: bake at 400°F for 25 minutes.
*Börek:
📌 In Turkish, börek refers to any dish made with yufka, and the name derives from the Turkish root bur- “to twist” which can also describe any dish made from rolled dough.
📌 Sometimes the term börek is accompanied, in the Turkish language, by another word to describe the shape, ingredients, cooking methods, or a specific region of the country where it is prepared in a particular way. For example, sigara böreği (“cigar-shaped”), kol böreği (“arm-shaped”, because slightly bent in the middle), talaş böreği (“in pieces”), Tatar böreği (“Tartar”) or Sarıyer böreği (“from Sarıyer”).
📌 You can buy it at specialized places called börekçi, where you can find various filling possibilities: cheese, spinach, potatoes, minced meat…
Once filled and closed, the börek are brushed with egg yolk and cooked in the oven or fried. In Turkey, they are also eaten for breakfast accompanied by Turkish tea, the çay.
