Friday, May 11, 2012

BÖREK WITH MALLOW, GOOSEFOOT AND FETA

This is the börek in my dreams! It is extremely delicious! 

I used to see goosefoot on the stalls in the open air markets here; but a few years ago I did not like it so much when I tried it raw in the salad. It was too crunchy for my liking. But this plant does just wonders in the börek! A must try!

goosefoot is just delicious in börek













Ingredients: (serves 3 – 4)
2 thin flaky dough (known as yufka or phyllo)

For the stuffing:
A handful of mallow, washed and drained
Half a bundle of goosefoot, washed and drained
200 gr. Feta, grated

grated feta










1 tea spoon of dried red pepper flakes (optional)

For the sauce/milky wash
1 egg white
Half a glass of milk
2  spoons of olive oil
Half a glass of sparkling water
2 spoons of yoghurt
 
For the top of the börek/ for the glaze
1 egg yolk
Black cumin or sesame seeds 

Method:
  1. Keep the stalks and the leaves of the mallow seperately. Steam-cook the mallow leaves for 1 minute. Alternatively you can soak them in boiling water for a minute and take them out immediately. As for the stalks, steam-cook or boil them for 10 minutes as they are harder. Chop the mallow.
  2. Steam-cook the goosefoot for 1 - 2 minutes. Alternatively you can soak them in boiling water for 1 - 2 minutes and take it out and drain.
  3. Mix the ingredients of the filling.
  4. Whisk the ingredients of the sauce. Add 2 -3 spoons of this mixture into the mixture for the filling.
  5. Lay one of the phyllo over a flat area. Cut it into half. Set one of the halves apart in order to use later. Moisten the phyllo with a 3 – 4 spoons of the sauce (or 6 -7 dessert spoons).
  6. Take ¼ of the börek filling and place it on phyllo going parallel to the long end of the phyllo. Fold the left and right ends inside with 1 cm. and start rolling the phyllo over the filling.
  7. Place the roll in an oven dish by giving it a spiral shape.
  8. Apply the same process for the rest of the phyllo; going over the spiral shape in the middle everytime.
  9. Brush the egg yolk over the börek.
  10. Sprinkle the rest of the milky wash over the börek.
  11. Sprinkle black cumin or sesame seeds.
  12. Bake the börek until it becomes golden on top in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees celcius. 

Step 1 & 2 - mallow and goosefoot chopped
Step 3














Step 5 - cut the phyllo into two from the middle
Step 6












Step 6 - start rolling

Step 6 - that is what you will get after having rolled each phyllo over the filling











Step 7
Step 8


























Step 9 - 10 - 11
börek with mallow, goosefoot and feta - just delicious!

6 comments:

  1. I'd love to taste it,looks amazing!
    By the way,the link I left for you didn't seem to work, but if you search on that site "wild greens popular Istanbul" there is a list of names turkish/english/latin. Did you find it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I did! Thanks for the link. The link did not work because it lacks a dash inbetween the word turkish cuisine. it works like this: http://www.turkish-cuisine.org/english/pages.php?ParentID=4&FirstLevel=30&SecondLevel=31&LastLevel=33

      That's a good resource, thanks a lot!

      As for the edible plants, I use this book about Turkish-Cretan kitchen in which they provide a list of some of the edible plants and their names a.o. in English and in Latin.

      I also have an English book called "the whole food pantry" of the Illustrated Encyclopedia.
      It was really strange not to find the goosefoot anywhere here!

      Thanks for the link anyway, I am sure I will use it as a resource in the future.

      Delete
  2. Hi again, love your new graphics. I discovered a new flower yesterday, a wild orchid. The type used to make Salep. I'd never heard of such a drink. Have you ever tasted it? I imagine the flowers are protected now? Very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, salep is one of the traditional hot winter drinks here in Turkey. Salep is a kind of powder that they make from the young tubers of a specific type of orchid. Some make it with water and some with milk (it is nicer with milk) and they usually garnish it with cinnamon. sometimes they also serve it with a ball of vanilla icecream in it. So you can imagine that the drink is really really delicious! The drink is especially good for you if you got a cold, caugh bad etc. It soothens the bronchi.
      You can find the small bags of salep in the supermarkets from big brands such as Nestle. But I find them sickeningly sweet and do not use them in my kitchen. There are also cafes, bakery shops etc which sell salep in the winter.
      I read indeed that the plant is protected indeed. Some pick all the tubers that the plant has, therefore the plant cannot flower anymore.

      Thanks for the compliments about the new look! I have posted some other recipes in the Turkish version of my blog, but here i did not post anything anymore. The statistics show that I don’t get many visitors so I thought it is not interesting what I post :)

      Delete
  3. What a shame!
    I find your blog very interesting, but I suppose the ingredients in your recipes are difficult to find outside Turkey/ if you don't know about wild plants. I find that the number of my visitors increases if I have something featured on www.punkdomestics.com. I'm sure it's the same with other sites like foodgawker/ tastespotter /foodbuzz etc.
    Best wishes,

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks a lot wildcraft diva!

    Well, for most of the plants that I have been posting lately, they are only available in one or two regions in Turkey (let alone outside of Turkey).
    Turkish kitchen is rich enough; maybe I should try other things as well! And also try those sites you mentioned now!

    Take care

    ReplyDelete