Turkish Meal Mondays: Börek

Turkish Meal Mondays are a glimpse into the food we enjoy here in Turkey, accompanied by a recipe.  Mondays are one of our favourite days, because they're Market Days. Ever since our first market day a year and a half ago we have only missed two, due to torrential down pour a few weeks ago.  Our trips to the market will continue to focus on selecting fresh and delish produce to use in our weekly Turkish recipes.  Get ready... This blog just became appealing to foodies.

Man, we have been struggling with getting these out on Mondays!  Sorry.  But this week we have a great reason.  We're hosting a dinner party for all of kindergarten on Wednesday, and a meal made on Monday just wouldn't taste as fresh as a meal made on Tuesday.  So Turkish Meal Tuesday it is this week.

This week is great for another reason: we have a special guest chef! WooHoo!

Meet Hasan.

He owns our favourite bakery in town, and is who we go to for cakes, cookies, and all sorts of other treats. Also, he is just the nicest guy.  He's one of those people we consider family by now.

Hasan will be tutoring us in how to make Börek, because Turkish people are very precise about their foods, and we never seem to get it just right. 

Börek comes with many different fillings (meat, cheese, spinach, herbs, potatoes, I've even seen peas) but the outside is always layers of paper thin, phyllo-like, dough. Yum.

Today we'll be making a cheese and spinach (peynir ve ıspanak) Gül Börek.

(Gül means Rose, and refers to the shape).

Ingredients: (Serves 20)

 5 eggs

500 ml oil

400 ml milk

7 HUGE sheets of dough (each sheet will make 3)

Yasin with the filling.

Filling:

Fresh Spinach 1 kilo

1 small onion

400 grams Beyaz Peynir or Feta cheese

A little bit of salt and black pepper

(Sautee chopped onions, add spinach, and salt and pepper, and cook until the spinach wilts. Cool, and mix in cheese.)

*So sorry about all the funny measurements.  You probably all have conversion apps though right?

First crack the eggs like a professional, by whacking two together.  I am now a master.

Whisk the eggs, oil and milk together. Don't slack off, Hasan made me whisk for a good 3 minutes. 

Now, using a VERY clean surface (Alan), scoop handfuls (5?) of this egg mixture out, using a professional looking swirling arm motion. You're aiming to make a circle the size of your dough sheets. Don't puddle it, just lightly drizzle. 

    Lay one layer of the dough out on the egg drizzle, smoothing flat.

Again, drizzle handfuls on the top, making sure to reach all the way to the edge. 

Cut the circle of dough into three even-ish strips.  (Top, middle, and bottom.  NOT pie slices.)

Sprinkle the filling along the edge of each third.

Here comes the fun part... FOLD, don't roll, the dough over the spinach.  Fold two or three times, not just once, but fold LOOSELY! Don't get it to tight.  

Now, swirl into a rose shape, tucking the end under the edge. 

Again, don't roll too tightly.  Serbest.

Alan has his smug face on, because he thinks he is the best at this...

But notice Hasan pointing to the "perfect" one.  That's mine.  Granted Alan hadn't made any yet.
But when we were finished Alan asked Hasan who was better, and he said "Elin," but he pointed to me.   (Elin is the way everybody in Turkey says both of our names.)

 Things got awkward when Alan started crying, so he recanted his statement.  But I'll always know the truth.

When you finish, put them in the oven.  If you're super fancy like Yetgin, heat the upper coil of your oven to a higher temperature that your lower coil.  But if you're normal like us, just bake them at 350, like everything else in the world.  10 minutes should do the trick!

Afiyet Olsun