Feta pastry cigars recipe
Called 'sigara börek peynir', these Turkish pastries filled with either cheese, cheese and spinach or minced meat.
They come in all shapes and sizes, but I do like making individual sigara- (cigar-) shaped ones because they are perfect for serving as finger food and look quite lovely among a good selection of other dishes on the dinner table. I like to fill mine with feta cheese and a hint of dried mint, which adds a wonderful warmth to the filling and gives it that little something extra.
This recipe makes 24 cigars.
Ingredients
- 1 drizzle olive oil, for brushing
- 200 g feta cheese
- 2 tsp dried mint
- 1 tbsp full-fat Greek yoghurt
- 6 sheets of filo pastry
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 1 scattering nigella seeds, to decorate
Details
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Recipe Type: Snack
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 20 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper and brush it generously with olive oil, which will prevent the cooked börek from sticking to the paper.
- Crumble and mash the feta cheese into a small bowl with the dried mint and Greek yoghurt until the mixture is evenly blended but not ‘wet’ – you need it to be soft enough to mould as desired.
- On a clean work surface, take a sheet of filo pastry and cut it into quarters. Have your bowl of beaten eggs to hand. Place one-quarter of the pastry horizontally in front of you.
- Take a teaspoon of mixture, roll it into a sausage shape in your hands and place it along the bottom edge of the pastry. Fold the bottom corners of the pastry up over the filling, then roll up the pastry from the bottom, tucking in the sides as you go. Dab your fingers into the beaten egg and seal all sides to prevent the filling from leaching out during cooking.
- Place the rolled börek on to the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining pastry and filling. Brush the börek all over with the beaten egg and give each one a scattering of nigella seeds.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Serve immediately.
Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour, published by Mitchell Beazley, £25 (www.octopusbooks.co.uk)
Photography by Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton
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