Burekas recipe?

[Pan]

It isn't surprising that Christians, Muslims, and Jews living in the same lands ate largely the same kinds of food; wouldn't you agree?

[Pam R]

wouldn't you agree?

Yes. And it makes sense.

I wonder if there are some who claim that a bureka is connected, derived from a knish? I mean ... they both have similar fillings and are wrapped in a (hopefully) flaky dough...

[Daniel Rogov]

I wonder if there are some who claim that a bureka is connected, derived from a knish? 

Nah!!!!!! A borek or burrekas is light and fluffy, melts in the mouth, slides gently down. A true knish......well....that's another story, so dense that it takes an act of courage to chew it and so heavy that when it hits the stomach it either bounces like a tennis ball or makes a sound similar to a stone dropped from 15 meters of height as it hits the grass.

Love them both, but I do remember when Paul Bocuse was first introduced to a knish (was it at Yone Schimel's in New York?) and commented: "Its delicious but tell me, is it meant to be eaten or to be thrown at an enemy?"

Edited August 30, 2005 by Daniel Rogov (log)

[Pam R]

A true knish......well....that's another story, so dense that it takes an act of courage to chew it and so heavy that when it hits the stomach it either bounces like a tennis ball or makes a sound similar to a stone dropped from 15 meters of height as it hits the grass.

Says who? The knishes I grew up on were not heavy at all. They were (and are) made with a stretch dough - just like my baba made when she lived in Poland - then taught us how to make them at work.

I always think of my knishes as true knishes... not those horrible things you buy in NY.

Proof please!!

[Daniel Rogov]

I always think of my knishes as true knishes... not those horrible things you buy in NY. 

Pam, Hi...

When I was a young man (many long moons ago), one of the great joys of being young in New York City was a trip to the lower East Side, to streets such as Delancey, there to feast on just the nuclear style knishes to which I refer. Now those were knishes were for "real" men and women and, of course at their best when the dense potato filling was peppery enough to make you catch your breath. And for the true cognoscenti of course, at their ultimately best when spread generously with deli mustard. Oh yes...ideally preceded or followed by two or three frankfurters from Isaac Gellis' delicatessen (hold the sauerkraut but plenty of mustard please)

You ask for proof. None required. As the best egg creams came from Brooklyn, as the best hot dogs came from Nathan's Famous (Coney Island of course), as the best french fries were spread with mustard (and not heaven forbid, ketchup), the best knishes might well have been thought of as "the Jewish atom bombs". All, of course, a matter of absolute fact and not open to the least hint of debate!!!

And all, equally obviously, in good fun.

[piazzola]

Ok boreki or boreka or bureki are made of a dough called yufka or yupka layers of it put together much like phyllo pastry but without the convenience of refrigeration years ago I began to wonder what would the Turkic people had used for boreki

Anyway I have not really yet found a precise reipe though I belive the closest relative to the original yufka is yupka a thin pancake from Uzbekistan they are Turkic people too.

[piazzola]

In fact I have some interesting link on a Russian site I still don't know if it is Ossetian(Russian) or Georgi step by step guide on this webpage

Warning to all Yanks the following pages may contain non legible characters http://www.chbrk.netfirms.com/cgi-bin/recept.cgi?1;3

[Pam R]

thanks for the link... but those aren't quite the ones I remember from my youth...

[piazzola]

thanks for the link... but those aren't quite the ones I remember from my youth...

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may be this dough does it

It is from Crimean Tartars(Ukraine)

KÖBETE (Pie with rice-and-chicken filling)

This all-time favorite pie is served as a main course. The filling, a rice dish with chicken, is baked between two layers of dough. The preparation of the multi-layer crusts is rather involved, revealing the skill and patience of generations of Tatar women who made Köbete for their families. The rice-and chicken filling may be substituted by rice and meat, meat cooked with potatoes and onions, or potatoes with cheese. Traditionally, Crimean Tatars serve Köbete with a fruit compote (a recipe for Raisin Compote given here) and/or hot tea.

INGREDIENTS

Dough

3 cups wheat flour

3 eggs

3 tablespoons olive oil (or safflower oil)

1 teaspoon salt

¼+ cup warm water

Filling

2 small chicken breasts

2 cups water

¾ cup rice

1 teaspoon salt

black pepper to taste

Note: One cup corresponds to 2.5 deciliters in the metric system.

DIRECTIONS

Prepare the filling ahead of the time. Place the chicken, water, and salt in a pot and cook until the chicken is tender. Take the chicken breasts out, let them cool, remove the bones, and cut into bite-size pieces. Using 1 ½ cups of the chicken broth, cook the rice. Add black pepper to taste. Mix the rice with cooked chicken and set it aside. The filling must be at room temperature.

To prepare the crust, place the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Beat the eggs and add to the flour with salt, oil, and water. Mix the ingredients with fingers and knead the dough until it is smooth, for about 5 minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes.

On a flat surface, lightly sprinkled with flour, divide the dough into 4 even balls. Make a log from each ball and cut into 8 even pieces. Form altogether 32 small pieces of round dough.

Prepare a mixture of 3 tablespoons of melted butter and 3 tablespoons of olive oil (or safflower oil). Keep the mixture warm and use half of it for the lower crust and save the remaining for the upper crust.

Take 17 of the round pieces of dough to make the lower crust, and keep the remaining pieces covered to prevent drying. Roll each piece into a 4-inch (10 cm) round layer. Coat generously each layer with oil mixture and form a stack by placing one piece over another. It may be easier to work 4-5 pieces at a time and add to the stack. Keep the edges together by pressing gently, while making sure that no air bubbles are trapped in the middle. Gently press the stack, evenly on all sides, into a 10-12 inch (25-30 cm) multi-layered dough. Place this lower crust on a cookie sheet or shallow pan. Carefully, spoon over the chicken-and-rice filling and spread evenly up to about 1 inch (2 cm) from the edge of the crust.

Prepare the upper crust from the remaining 15 pieces of dough and the oil-butter mixture. Cover the filling with the upper crust, and seal the edge by pressing gently but firmly. Working with a small section at a time, twist the edge toward the center and press, twist and press, so as to form a ridge around the pie. Beat an egg and coat the upper crust with the egg mixture. Puncture holes with a fork for air to escape before placing in the oven.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for about 50 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

[Pam R]

I really think what I remember is closest to a puff pastry. I will continue to make them using pp and I have ordered 3 different brands of frozen products for my ultra-kosher customers.

[jaynesb]

Here's a recipe from the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Burekas

I'm not sure whether there was anything specific that qualified this recipe as worthy of being on the Israeli government website but I'm guessing it's a good example. Does it look like anything anyone has tried?

jayne

[ayana]

Here's my grandmother's recipe for burekas. She was born in Jerusalem, her parents were born in Yemen & grew up in Jerusalem. Sorry about the imprecise measurements, that's grandmother recipes for you.

Safta Sima's Burekas: Cheese, Spinach and Potato

Dough:

3 ½ cups flour

2 (pkgs) margarine (with or without salt)

1 cup sour cream or milk mixed with 1 tbsp lemon

2 tbsp. baking powder

Some salt if the margarine is unsalted

The milk you leave out before the kneading, so it will be a bit sour. Knead together smooth dough, the margarine spread out and not melted. Put in fridge overnight or all day. You can make little burekas (a lot of work) or a few big ones with thin dough.

Cheese Filling:

A nice big piece of feta, mashed up

3 heaping tbsp. cottage cheese without liquid, or Ricotta maybe

3 tbsp. Parmesan

All different kinds of leftover cheese pieces

2 eggs - leave one of the yolks for brushing later

Sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients except sesame and 1 yolk, stuff burekas dough (roll out thin) & fold, brush with egg yolk, sprinkle with sesame seeds, bake 350 degrees until golden.

Spinach Filling for Burekas:

1 pkg chopped spinach, dried well (that's very important)

Cottage cheese, drained (about ¾ container)

Feta cheese (a good-sized piece, crumbled)

Lemon peel

Egg

A little nutmeg

Mix all - put inside phyllo triangles.

PS If I'm cheating with the dough (which I always do), the brand of phyllo I use isn't technically Phyllo at all, it's "Jecky's Best French Puff Pastry" which is available in the frozen sections of the Middle Eastern markets around here (Los Angeles). It is MUCH easier to use than phyllo and comes out exactly the same as phyllo. I love it.

Here's a recipe for potato burekas using this Jecky's dough, which is the recipe I use (from my Moroccan-Israeli friend Bat-Sheva):

Bat-Sheva’s Potato Burekas

Makes 2 burekas rolls

1 package French puff pastry (Jecky's Best from the Middle Eastern market), defrosted

4 medium-sized potatoes or 2 huge ones

1 large onion or 2 small ones, minced

1 package mushrooms, sliced (optional)

A little white wine

Salt, pepper

A pinch hot paprika (optional)

A chicken bouillon cube or some stock (optional)

A pinch nutmeg (optional)

2 eggs or so

1 additional egg, for egg wash

Sesame seeds (optional)

Peel and boil the potatoes until cooked. Meanwhile, caramelize the onions in olive oil, together with the mushrooms, if using. When golden, add a little white wine and stock (optional) to deglaze the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Mash potatoes in a bowl and add the onions, mushrooms, 2 eggs, and spices. Mix well. Put in center of puff pastry and fold over the edges, pressing down to seal. Brush tops with 1 egg beaten with water. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 385 F for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Overbake rather than underbake: burekas should be flaky and dry.

These are SO good.

[Pam R]

Anybody have a good, kid friendly cheese filling? Ayana's recipe looks great, but I'm not sure the feta would be a big hit with the 6-year old kids who will be cooking.

Any other easy fillings that kids would like and be able to assemble (with help)?

[CaliPoutine]

Anybody have a good, kid friendly cheese filling?  Ayana's recipe looks great, but I'm not sure the feta would be a big hit with the 6-year old kids who will be cooking.

Any other easy fillings that kids would like and be able to assemble (with help)?

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What about a standard blintz filling? I use dry cottage cheese( I cant find farmer cheese here).

[Pam R]

Brilliant! I use dry cottage cheese too, and I never thought of it. But it makes perfect sense -- just another type of dough. Thanks.

[Lior]

We use "gvina lavana" - what is translated to white cheese- but you know the kind I mean, mixed with cottage and also regular yellow cheese- the type that melts like edam or motzerella.

[piazzola]

We use "gvina lavana" - what is translated to white cheese- but you know the kind I mean, mixed with cottage and also regular yellow cheese- the type that melts like edam or motzerella.

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gvina lavana=tvarog in Ukraine and Russia Гвина-Лавана(белый сыр) is one of the main ingredients in cheese varenikes,perogy or Jewish kreplaks

Edited June 9, 2008 by piazzola (log)

[Lior]

Yeah! Isn't that something?? Here itis either 1/2%. 3%, 5% or 9%. Same there with those?