11 June 2009

Bourekas






Bourekas are made out puff pastry filled with various fillings. The most popular fillings are cheese,mashed potato,spinach,eggplant,pizza-flavor, and mushrooms.
i have had this several times at a Jewish friend's place . On quizzing my friend got to know that Bourekas was brought to Israel by the Jews from Turkey and Balkans..
Burek ( other variant name) is popular in the Arab world, some countries around the Mediterranean Sea, the Slavic cuisines, throughout the Balkans and the former Ottoman Empire.
You can check out the variants here on wikipedia(Burek)

Whenever i go to my friends place she always gives these delicious treats and i end up eating so many and my tummy is so full by the times we reach the main course.I'm staying in West Africa and its difficult to get puff pastry here.. i tried one of store bought pastries and some how dint like the smell of it. Got to know from my friend that their house keeper prepared everything from the scratch and i was taken aback.preparing puff pastry at home... now was not that meant to be difficult... well i was so obsessed with the Bourekas and was very stubborn on learning it.. so one fine day she arranged a cooking lesson for me and i was so excited.
i had made video of the entire process and i tell you it was so much fun..
i came home all enlightened ( he he he) and the following weekend i was set to try it at home.
here i have made the bourekas using the fillings cheese and pizza flavour..




now for those of you who can get ready made pastry its very easy for the unlucky ones like me
the procedure for making the puff pastry is given below

Making the puff pastry

Ingredients

all purpose flour(for dough) - 6 cups
all purpose flour(for dusting) - 1 cup
oil(olive/sunflower)- 2 tbspns
salt- 1 tbspn
sugar-1 tbspn
margarine-200 gms
water-sufficient amount to knead
Method

  • sieve the flour for the dough and add in the salt, sugar and oil
  • add in sufficient water to form a smooth dough
  • sieve the flour for dusting in a separate bowl and set aside
  • choose a big platform and dust some flour on the surface and roll the dough to uniform thickness..its better to use a big surface as the dough has to rolled to about 1/4 inch thickness
  • now grate the margarine all over the dough surface , about 25 gms should be fine.
  • now close the dough from both sides and gently press with your hands
  • dust some flour on top of the spread dough and beneath (on the surface) also , so as to avoid the dough sticking and rol the dough once again
  • again grate some more margarine on top of the dough and repeat the process for 4 more times ( in total it is 6 times of repeated rolling, grating,folding and again so on for 6 times)
  • this process is a little tiring but its worth the effort
  • when you are done with the 6th time ,by then entire margarine should be finished
  • roll the dough again to uniform thickness cut into small squares of desired size
Pizza-flovour

Ingredients

Onion- 1 small
Garlic - 1 pearl
tomatoes - 2 nos
tomato puree - 1 tbspn
pepper powder- 1/2 tspn
salt- to taste
oil- 1 tspn
grated cheese - 1/2 cup
Olives - 1 tbspn

Method

  • heat oil in a pan add the finely chopped garlic and saute for a min and then add the finely chopped onions and when they turn golden brown add the finely chopped tomatoes(store bought can also be used) and add little salt and when they begin to become mushy add the tomato puree and pepper and saute for 5 mins and turn off the flame
  • cool the mixture and to this add the grated cheese, i have used emmental cheese and add the chopped olives and mix it well
Cheese flavour

Ingredients

grated cheese- 1/2 cup
Olives- 2 tbspn
egg white - 1

Method
  • mix the grated cheese, i have used emmental and the chopped olives and blend in the agg white and keep aside
Making the Bourekas

  • On a lightly floored surface the dough has to be cut into squares
  • place a tbspn of the required filling on the dough and close to form a triangle
  • crump the edges using a fork
  • place it on the tray lined with a baking paper
  • and beat the egg yellow and brush the top of the bourekas and sprinkle sesame seeds on top
  • bake at 350 degrees until puffy and golden brown
voila you have hot Bourekas , enjoy !






Thanx a ton to my dearest friends !

30 comments:

Pooja said...

Oh my you made puff pastry from scratch? That should have been a tiring job! Though I'm happy to get here one of my friends who own a bakery said, the store bought one is not good as it contains lots of bad fat as they make with lard instead of butter. So even I was planning to make sometime. You have given me enough inspiration :)
The Bourekas looks so crispy n delicious. Never had them before. Should try out soon! This post has tempted me enough!

Pooja said...

hey pooja yes i made from scratch ..its a little tiring but u can make sufficient amount and freeze it till one month.. if u need any help let me know i will try to send a video of making a puff pastry.. thanx a lot for your comments pooja

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Wow as pooja said.. its looking so good and really tiring job. DO send the video or post it it will be helpful. THey are really looking so good yaa

Pooja said...

Pavithra the next time i will try to post the video asap as i need a helping hand . thanx again !

veena said...

hi pooja ..
great job ...Bourekas looks simply amazing ...I never tried this .. added u in my blog roll ..take care

Pooja said...

Thank you veena ! thanks again for adding me .

anudivya said...

I am pretty impressed! You made the pastry sheet from scratch!I would have taken the easy way out and bought readymade puff pastry sheets. It requires a lot of patience and know how to get those flaky layers right, and you have done them perfectly.

Pooja said...

Thanks anudivya
i would'nt have taken the trouble either..but i dont get pastry sheets here.. hence all this effort you see i'm so obsessed with these.. !

Padma said...

That is really great that you made everything from the scrath... should appreciate you a lot for that :D ... bourekas look so great Pooja... has come out so perfect, though I am not going to try my hands on the puff sheets :) ... will try sometimes with the fillings that u mentioned .... and thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your commments dear... came here to see some lovely recipes... will be visiting often :)

Gita Jaishankar said...

Wow...you made puff pastry by yourself! Thats is really great :) The bourekas look so scrumptious.

Priya Suresh said...

Am very much impressed, wat a awesome work Pooja...Tremendous and fabulous bourekas yar!

Pooja said...

Thanks a bunch Padma. with pastry in hand these can be made quickly.especially the cheesy ones.

Pooja said...

Thanks a lot Gita. they indeed were scrumptious Gita

Pooja said...

Thanks for your appreciations Priya!
Thanks again for passing by

Priyameena said...

This is totally new to me..Thanks for introducing..I guess you have lot of patience to made this dish from scratch...Great..

Pooja said...

Thanks a lot priyameena..

Ganga Sreekanth said...

thank you for visiting my blog
this recipie is new to me

ARUNA said...

wow never tried this recipe from scratch.....looks great!!!

Parita said...

Puff Pastry from scratch, u did amazing job and bourekas look perfect, i love the pizza filling you have made, too goo :)

Pooja said...

Ganga this is more or less similar to the puffs which we get in India.. except for the filling and topping.thanks for dropping by

Pooja said...

Thanks Aruna

Pooja said...

Thanks a lot Parita.. Yeah i too like the pizza flavor .

Bergamot said...

First time visitor. Nice blog. This one really impressed me. Puff pastry from scratch. Wow!! They look nice & crisp when baked :-)

Pooja said...

Hi bergamot
thanks for stopping by.

Preety said...

these are really good appetizers..i m serving this in my next party for sure

VIDYA VENKY said...

hey pooja,
u havea wonderful blog.....i love all the items in it..thanx for dropping in to my blog too

Pooja said...

Thanks a lot preety.. Do let me know how the outcome is

Pooja said...

Thanks a ton Vidya Venky

Madhuram said...

Making puff pastry at home, that's such a cumbersome job. Well done Pooja, the burekas look very good.

Pooja said...

yes madhuram.. i made puff pastry on 2 consecutive days one for the post of boureka and the other time for showing to a friend and my upper arms were paining a little.. i guess one needs practice! thanks madhuram