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 !