Lentil börek, using puff pastry (mercimekli börek)
October 25th, 2006
Having a package of frozen puff pastry in the freezer is sometimes a life saver. This was a light dinner which was every easy to put together, and was enjoyed by all who was around for that night.
Puff pastry sheets we are used to in Turkey are about 15cm square each, as opposed to large sheets of them sold in the US markets. My preference is to use the small ones, which we can find in the local Middle Eastern stores. They are easier to thaw and easier to work with. Yeah, I can always cut the big ones, but why bother?
Here are the ingredients of lentil borek, using puff pastry.
- 1 package of puff pastry (had 11 of the 15cm square sheets)
- 1 cup green lentils
- 1 medium size onion, chopped finely
- 1 tsp pepper paste (could be omitted)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- salt, blackpepper and red pepper flakes to taste
- 1 egg, to brush on
- 1 Tbs sesame and nigella seeds each
- Take the puff pastry out of the freezer, ahead of the time of cooking according to the directions on the box
- Cook the cup of lentils in water, until soft
- In another pan, cook the onions in water, pepper paste and olive oil until onions are soft
- Drain the water from the lentils and mix them with the onions. Put in a colander to drain the excess water and cool faster
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Puff pastry should be totally thawed by now, and the sheets apart
- Put a spoonful of the filling in each of the pastry, wrap them around and put on lightly greased baking tray
- Once all are done, brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame and nigella seeds. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 - 20 mins, until golden brown and puffed up.
Enjoy with a cup of tea!
October 26th, 2006 at 6:56 am
You forgot to mention to sprinkle sesame & nigella seeds - they are important for the taste (and make it even better!)
October 26th, 2006 at 9:15 am
Aja, you are right! Let me update it! Toda. :)
October 26th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Hi Fethiye,
Bir şey degil.
And thank you for such having such a nice blog with such yummy pictures!
8^)
October 27th, 2006 at 3:20 am
Aja, that looks simply delicious. When you cook the onion in water with the pepper paste and olive oil, how much water do you use? I am new to Turkish cooking. Thanks!
October 27th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Lucy, using about 3 - 4 tbs of water should be enough. Using water along with the olive oil makes sure that the onion is cooked without browning it.
May 31st, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I tasted this borek in Turkey and then tried your version.
The casing of the borek I tasted was different though-more crispy and less greasy than shop bought puff pastry is.
Also-it was very thin.
Sounds familiar?
June 1st, 2007 at 8:47 am
Tali, you are absolutely right about the difference in puff pastry and yufka. It is hard to find for me to get yufka (which is not what you make at home) here, but sure enough one can achieve similar results in home made, rolled dough. as you said, that dough has to be rolled out very thin.
June 1st, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Thank you Fethiye!
It says yufka is like phyllo-I can actually get phyllo where I live,so I’ll try it as a substitute.
June 2nd, 2007 at 7:53 am
Tali, that statement is kind of misleading though ;( Yufka is not as thin as phyllo dough. You cannot directly substitutive them. A nice post about them can be found here, lots of pics taken when it is prepared but the writing is in Turkish. No nice picture with English explanation that could found. ;(