Sarıyer Böreği

Coiled flat into a round tray, cut across after baking and sold by weight — and currants and pine nuts go in the filling.

Beef, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains beef.

Ingredients

• 6 fresh yufka sheets
• 500 g minced beef
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 60 g currants
• 60 g pine nuts
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• a handful of parsley, chopped
• 150 ml sunflower oil
• 100 ml milk
• 1 egg yolk, for glazing
• salt and black pepper

Method

1. IT IS COILED FLAT INTO A ROUND TRAY AND CUT ACROSS AFTER BAKING. The rolls are made the same long thin way as the kol böreği on its own page -- the two look alike, which is noted wherever this börek is described -- but they are not laid out straight. They are wound round on themselves into one flat spiral filling a round tray, from the centre outward, so what bakes is a single disc. It is then cut across the coils into wedges or squares, which is why it is a pastry-shop börek sold by the kilo rather than a household one served in lengths: the spiral can be cut to any weight a customer asks for.
2. CURRANTS AND PINE NUTS GO IN THE FILLING, AND THEY ARE THE REASON FOR THE CINNAMON. Sixty grams of each. They make this the sweet-savoury börek of the group -- a beef filling with fruit and nuts in it, seasoned with cinnamon rather than only pepper. Leave them out and it is a plain mince börek in an unusual shape.
3. THE PINE NUTS ARE TOASTED SEPARATELY AND ADDED AT THE END. Dry-toasted in a pan until golden and stirred into the cooled filling. Cooked along with the mince they go soft and taste of nothing; the whole value of them is the resinous crunch against the soft filling.
4. THE CURRANTS ARE SOAKED AND DRAINED. Ten minutes in warm water, then drained well. Dry currants pull moisture out of the filling as it bakes and stay hard; soaked, they swell and stay plump.
5. THE COIL IS WOUND LOOSELY AND THE CENTRE STARTED SMALL. Pulled tight, the spiral lifts and buckles as it bakes and the middle stays raw. Wound with a little slack, it holds flat and the heat gets between the turns.
6. The onions softened in a little oil, the mince added and cooked until no liquid remains.
7. The cinnamon, salt and pepper stirred in and the filling left to go COLD.
8. The currants soaked 10 MINUTES in warm water and DRAINED.
9. The pine nuts DRY-TOASTED until golden.
10. The currants, pine nuts and parsley stirred into the cold filling.
11. The oil and milk mixed in a jug.
12. Each yufka sheet brushed with the mixture, a line of filling laid along one edge, and rolled into a long thin rope.
13. The first rope wound into a small coil at the CENTRE of an oiled round tray.
14. Each further rope joined on and wound round, LOOSELY, until the tray is filled as one flat spiral.
15. Brushed with egg yolk.
16. Baked at 180°C for 45 MINUTES, until evenly golden.
17. TESTED: the centre of the spiral should be as cooked as the rim. A raw middle means the coil was wound tight.
18. Cooled 15 MINUTES and CUT ACROSS THE COILS into wedges.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes