Almost Turkish Recipes

Turkish Feta-Potato Rolls (Fırında Sigara Böreği)



























Sigara Böreği literally means "cigarette pastry" in Turkish and they are usually deep fried. However, I didn't want to have a heavy snack, so instead I baked them with instructions from my mom.

Yufka, Turkish filo dough, is not as thin as the Greek one that you can find frozen at the stores here in States; it is usually round 15-20 inches in diameter. It is not easy to find Turkish filo dough here, but the Greek one is too thin and delicate for me to handle. So I decided to go online; the Turkish filo dough I used for these cigarette pastries is available at Tulumba.

1 pack of Turkish triangle filo dough (there were 28 pieces)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp yogurt
2 eggs (put aside one egg yolk to brush the tops)

for stuffing
2 medium size potatoes, peeled and boiled
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/3 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 tsp black pepper (optional)

black seeds
sesame seeds

-Mash the potato, feta, parsley, and spices with the back of a fork (you can use only potato or feta for stuffing. you don't need to salt the stuffing if you'll use feta, but if not, make sure you salt it)
-Mix olive oil, yogurt, and 2 eggs(-1 egg yolk; we're saving one egg yolk for brushing). Put one layer of filo dough and brush with the mixture. Put the second one on top and brush it again (not to have dry pastries, we need two layers of filo dough wetted with oily yogurt sauce). Place one spoonful of stuffing on the wide side of filo dough. Fold the sides and roll. (Wet the tiny end with the yoogurty sauce if it doesn't stick) Place them on a greased oven tray.
-After you roll all of them, beat the egg yolk that you set aside. Brush it on top of rolls and sprinkle sesame or black seeds, or both.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 375 F for 20-30 minutes until they're golden brown.


























If you want to try them deep fried, you don't need the olive oil+yogurt+egg sauce. Take only one layer of filo dough, put the stuffing, roll, and deep fry it in a ligther oil like vegetable, corn, or canola oil until golden brown. ( Wet the tiny end of filo dough with water to stick) Place on a paper towel to soak excessive oil.

These pastries are good for breakfast or/and with tea. They're good for storing for emergencies, too. Just put them in the freezer seperately until frozen, then gather them in a bag/box until they're needed.

I don't know if you like savory and sweet things together, but you should try dipping your cigarette pastry in any kind of jam (my favorite is cherry), which is, I guess, a very Thracian thing to do in Turkey.

22 comments:

  1. Please bring along Upsie, too! I'm one of her secret fans!

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  2. Oh Burcu, I want one too! And the top photo is so GOOD!

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  3. Burcu, they look wonderful :)
    My method of healty cooking is to freeze them, take them out of the freezer, quickly lay them on a baking tray, bake them for 10 min, then put under grill until they are golden brown. They will become puffed up and crisp, and soo healty..

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  4. I had got turkish filo pastry form a turkish friend but i made the meat borek. good to see a baked recipe.will surely try it.

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  5. Burcu, I have tagged you for a Meme. Pls check out my blog for details! :)

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  6. Burcu,
    learn something new from you! The greek filo is too thin to my liking, I'm tempted to go on-line buying yufka too!
    Beautiful rolls you made! And with feta inside, I'd like to adventure in savory+sweet combo!

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  7. Anonymous12:27 AM

    I don't know how I stumbled upon your website, but it is fabulous. I absolutely adore some of these recipes and can't wait to try them, especially this one, and the eggplant ones. There is a great Turkish market & grill near my home, and that is how I became hooked on bulgar ;) Yufta is always in my refrigerator and I am thrilled Ive found authentic ways to use it. Keep it coming!

    Shukran ;)

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  8. Burcu, thanks for the recipe and the great step by step explanations.

    I baked sigara boregi before using single layer triangular yufkas.. But they turned out to be pretty dry and flaky..

    Great trick to double layer them! will follow your recipe from now on!

    Naz

    ps: btw, i loved your blog's name. Almost turkish recipes. Brilliant :)

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  9. hiya,

    Great website...can you also make this using spinach/silverbeet and feta filling? Would I need to precook the spinach before hand? If you can explain how to do the (spinach) filling that would be great. Thanks.

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  10. Hi Dilzy, yes you can make the same roll with spinach filling. Prepare the filling as in the flaky spinach pie under borek/phyllo dough pastry or here (http://almostturkish.blogspot.com/2008/09/flaky-spinach-pie-ispanakl-tepsi-brei.html)

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  11. Hi Burcu, thanks for replying. I actually tried making these with the parsley and potato filling and I must have done something wrong becuase my filling oozed out when cooking!! Any idea why that may have happend?

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  12. So crispy and delicious one. I adore Turkish food, especially pastry is very strong. Thanks :)

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  13. Hi!

    I've already tried your eggplant stew recipe twice and it was perfect both times. Now I'd like to try this one. Is it possible to do this recipe on regular puff pastry?

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  14. Anonymous9:46 AM

    Selamlar!
    Ben Irem. Siteyi Yasemin araciligiyla kesfettim, iki yildir Athens'ta yasiyorum ben de. Sigara boregi tarifine bakarken recele batiran biri daha oldugunu gorunce gozlerim doldu resmen sevincten ve ozlemden sanirim. Bu arada Edirne'liyim ben, hayatimin 18 yili orada gecti, gercekten de Trakya isi olabilir recele batirmak :)
    Tariflerin hepsi super!
    Sevgiler,
    Irem

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  15. Tesekkurler, Irem. Benim de 7 yilim Edirnde'de, hatta Yildirim'da gecti :)

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  16. Anonymous9:27 AM

    assalaamoalaikum..recently i watched a turkish drama and they always mentioned borek, i was in search of a recipe like this and came across your blog, i tried your recipe, and loved your idea of baking this pastry. iam from pakistan ,here i couldnt find filo pastry but i wanted so much to try this recipe,so i used spring roll wraps which are available here which are thin flour filo type pastry almost like your yufkas, loved the idea of brushing pastry with eggwash mixture that you mentioned. the rolls baking in oven with nigella seeds and cheese seemed so tempting and tasted awesome. but i want a tip ,what can you do to make them more crisp in the oven as deep fried rolls are with so much calories? looking forward to your help. and let see which recipe i try next. but thanks for this tempting recipe, will definitely make again in ramazan. aman

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    Replies
    1. If you're using Turkish phyllo dough, the thick ones, you can use only one layer. But, no matter what you do the baked rolls will not be as crispy as the fried ones--unfortunately, that's the price you need to pay for a healthier and lighter version.

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    2. Anonymous11:16 PM

      thankyou for the suggestion, and yeah no matter what you do while baking they are not as crisp as when fried, but still your original borek recipe inspired me a lot to try and experiment making new savories,and i have a new found passion of trying turkish cuisine.thanks again. aman.

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  17. Marijana12:11 PM

    Merhaba Burcu!I wondered about freezing procedure. I can freeze both version (oven and deep fry), right? After using them again, do you let them melt a bit or immediately baking/frying?

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    Replies
    1. You can immediately bake and/or fry them, but of course add a bit on the baking time.

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  18. Thanks! a store in sunnyvale stock merve filo dough, if you'd like to know the store name let me know. :)

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    Replies
    1. Do you mean Baraka? If so, that's where I get pastirma.

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