My late grandma had a trick with spinach. She would be massaging the uncooked spinach with salt, then let it drain its juices for 15mins before cooking. That way you don't need to overcook, or drain, or season. Also very tasty.
That is exactly how my late grandmothers, rahmatullah, did it. My mom too. I thought I was doing something new and improved when I precooked my spinach and did not realized why it tasted different. I'm back to old school way.
My grandma is from former Yugoslavia, what is now Zrenjanin, Serbia. I grew up eating a lot of "burek" and it's one of my favorite dishes. I'm going to try all of these.
Just came back from a croatia/Slovenia trip and these were absolutely my highlight. Im just a simple guy from ireland, and trust me nothing beats blood sausage(pudding) but burek would easily stand side by side with it
Obi I've been watching you for a while and it still amazes me how little people know about you. As a spaniard watching you make this awesome and extremelly different dishes from the ones i'm used to it's a joy. That nuke at 6:06 has left me in tears. I look froward to seeing you grow and keep on cooking. I love your videos, keep on being a boss.
I just had some of the cigar-shaped borek at a local Turkish restaurant for the first time, and it was AMAZING. It was far crispier than I had expected, and I think I need to get that every time I go there now!
I love your channel, both recipes and presentation - you and your wife have such a lovely, friendly manner. Middle Eastern food is my favourite. Thanks for showing the mistakes in frying - everyone can relate to that and it’s through mistakes that we really learn. Love the parsley through the grater tip - I’ve just put flat leaf parsley on my shopping list! Best wishes from a 72 yr. old Granny in Aberdeenshire.
Watching from former Yugoslavia where we certainly make and eat a lot of "burek" looking forward to learning a different version than the ones I'm used to :)
This channel is so great and so well deseved that it has grown so much. Not only are you guys putting in a lot of time to put out great recipes and interesting dished but you both are also very likeable. And the fact you show your mistakes is another plus as it happens to everyone that is serious about cooking from time to time and shouldn't be something that discourage people from trying.
just went to a turkish restaurant last Thursday for lunch and had borek for an appetizer and they were Delicious!! they were triangular in shape and had the herby cheese filling, similar to the cigar ones it sounds like.
in Bosnia they have a method of cooking called "pita ispod sača" basically it is burek cooked inside a stone/fire oven with hot charcoal underneath the dish and the top of the dish has a lid with a chain and more coal on the lid. People sometimes eat it with a yoghurt type ayran drink.
In algeria we have our special borek as well , we make the wrap dough out of semolina not flour and we call them dyool and then we shape them into cigars it's so delicious you must try it . And for more taste try the annabi bricks even more delicious
There's a burek place in the market in my city and they are honestly one of the best foods period. So unbelievably great. Can't wait to give this a try.
Wow slowly but surely this channel is becoming the golden standard to middle Eastern recipes A biryani recipe would be a banger just like the chicken shawarma Edit : i just realized this is the better version of egrolls 🤔
When you unwrap your pastry cover it with a clean tea towel that is just slightly damp. This will help prevent the pastry from drying out. Great video. This is one of my favourite food channels on RUclips.
I would love a video about all the different middle eastern dairy products like the cheeses, yogurts, creams.. we have a lot of them in our area but I never know what to get. I found something similar to clotted cream at one. The difference feta cheese I just guess every time. I never tried the normal cheese because I just have no idea what they are.
I love cheese böreks and they look easier than I thought to make. But the best thing in this video is the parsley life hack!! Really clever; thank you!
I miss the cigar shaped ones from my time in london- used to order them every single time I ate at a Turkish joint. Will make these, thanks for another cool video Obi!
Hey this looks delicious. There are much more easy recipes and with practice you would do this recipes perfectly too. One reminder about yufka it will be hard in air quickly so you should put yufkas you are not using under a towel for better outcome. Love from Turkey
These look amazing and I'm definitely going to try them soon. I really appreciate that you show both the successes and the not-so-successes. That helps give us less skilled cooks confidence :)
I never thought of lox and borek! Now, that sounds interesting. I'd go easy on the stretchy cheese and heavy on the feta if I was making that. I think you're onto something there.
Those both look delicious. I felt your panic over them cracking like that but it's good to show that it turned out well in the end. Also, the parsley through the grater is genius!
Original word is "bÖrek". It comes from the Turkish word "büzmek" which means "to shir". It is a nice Anatolian dish and not originally from Balkan. Balkan did not have börek and puff pastry before Ottoman. It is a very common way to prepare dough in Central Aisa. Mostly cooked with stream or in a pan. In Anatolia they started to back it in tandoori/oven etc. Where do you have your informations from?!
It's obvious that börek, pita and also the Austrian/south German Strudel have their origin with the Central Asian Turkic peoples. Just have a look at some of the Uzbek or Uyghur channels here on youtube. It's amazing.
@@lifeofabronovich7792 They actually share the place of origin. There they are called samsa, mostly with a meat filling and baked in a tandoor. Adopted by Indian people, they became merely vegetarian and fried in stead of baked.
That yufka you used for the rolled börek looked very thin and brittle to me. Was that really saç yufka? The one I buy is a bit thicker, more elastic and does not crack that easily. To a beginner I also would recommend to make a layered börek or pockets in stead of a spiralled one.
Its not only popular Turkey is the origin of this dish and the only country who should get credits. Its a turkish word and not middle eastern or of balkan countries!
That all looks amazing. You may have better luck with the pastry not cracking if you keep the remaining pastry sheets covered while you fill and roll the current sheet.
It looks like Spanakopita. The secret to great Spanakopita is to add in fresh Basil and too much cheese to the Spinach. P.S. the parsley strainer idea is pure genius thanks. I am making the cigar Borek tomorrow. They look amazing.
I've been making borek since I was 6 but I watched it anyway, because I'm on diet and can not eat any borek these days 😢 Love the "parsley-grater trick" ❤
Greenfields brand has the best spice quality in the UK for Middle Eastern spices. Other than that, Rajah is amazing for whole spices. You can find them at most Arabic or Turkish grocery stores, and greenfields sell online!
After we are Done with racing on wednesdays during the sailing season we often have börek on Board and its almost always the first thing to be finished 😂
Using the box grater to quickly strip parsley from the stem is the most redpilled kitchen trick I've seen in months. You've impressed me. Note: it's so common to see horizontal layers, I found it very unique how you got such perfect VERTICAL layers!!
to make a comparison: yufka is a bit thicker than filo and a bit savory like a bread as we usually use it to make savory pastries like böreks in Turkey while most filos have more of a neutral taste (almost tasteless) so can be used to make sweets, especially baklava. As for being GF, i know for a fact there are few brands available with GF yufka choices in here. Perhaps if you google it, i hope you may find some available in your area. And even if you don't, please don't lose hope. When it comes to börek, there are tens of different kinds of börek in Turkey so if you have a real craving just use your creativity and a lot of options in pastries with fillings are almost close enough in taste 😄
In Bulgaria 🇧🇬 we eat "banitsa" not "borek".It is basically the same but different varieties.The filling is with eggs,Bulgarian white cheese-which in many countries is called Greek cheese but this cheese is not Greek it is traditionally Bulgarian,Bulgarian yoghurt and butter. And many more varieties. I love it.
My late grandma had a trick with spinach. She would be massaging the uncooked spinach with salt, then let it drain its juices for 15mins before cooking. That way you don't need to overcook, or drain, or season. Also very tasty.
That is exactly how my late grandmothers, rahmatullah, did it. My mom too. I thought I was doing something new and improved when I precooked my spinach and did not realized why it tasted different. I'm back to old school way.
As a vegan i add TVP (dry soy meat) so that it soaks up the juices from the spinach. You are supposed to hydrate TVP but it's so easy this way
My grandma is from former Yugoslavia, what is now Zrenjanin, Serbia. I grew up eating a lot of "burek" and it's one of my favorite dishes.
I'm going to try all of these.
I really appreciate that you show and explain your mistakes and learning process. Not only is that relatable, but it helps us learn too!
Just came back from a croatia/Slovenia trip and these were absolutely my highlight.
Im just a simple guy from ireland, and trust me nothing beats blood sausage(pudding) but burek would easily stand side by side with it
the burek in Ljubljana were great :)
@@jamesmcclusky3120 too true 🥲 baba's by the train station had the best meat burek
@@jamescanjuggle i mainly went to Olympija. my only complaint was they never had the spinach one when i was there haha!
Obi I've been watching you for a while and it still amazes me how little people know about you.
As a spaniard watching you make this awesome and extremelly different dishes from the ones i'm used to it's a joy.
That nuke at 6:06 has left me in tears. I look froward to seeing you grow and keep on cooking.
I love your videos, keep on being a boss.
I just had some of the cigar-shaped borek at a local Turkish restaurant for the first time, and it was AMAZING. It was far crispier than I had expected, and I think I need to get that every time I go there now!
I love your channel, both recipes and presentation - you and your wife have such a lovely, friendly manner. Middle Eastern food is my favourite. Thanks for showing the mistakes in frying - everyone can relate to that and it’s through mistakes that we really learn. Love the parsley through the grater tip - I’ve just put flat leaf parsley on my shopping list! Best wishes from a 72 yr. old Granny in Aberdeenshire.
Watching from former Yugoslavia where we certainly make and eat a lot of "burek" looking forward to learning a different version than the ones I'm used to :)
Thank you for not deleting the difficulties out of the video. It really comes across more authentic. I look forward to trying this soon!
This channel is so great and so well deseved that it has grown so much.
Not only are you guys putting in a lot of time to put out great recipes and interesting dished but you both are also very likeable. And the fact you show your mistakes is another plus as it happens to everyone that is serious about cooking from time to time and shouldn't be something that discourage people from trying.
I love borek, when living in Germany i'd eat that almost daily as a snack or a quick breakfast on my way to work!
Ohhh my goodness, absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing your beautiful recipe.
just went to a turkish restaurant last Thursday for lunch and had borek for an appetizer and they were Delicious!! they were triangular in shape and had the herby cheese filling, similar to the cigar ones it sounds like.
in Bosnia they have a method of cooking called "pita ispod sača" basically it is burek cooked inside a stone/fire oven with hot charcoal underneath the dish and the top of the dish has a lid with a chain and more coal on the lid. People sometimes eat it with a yoghurt type ayran drink.
najbolji u Jablanici na čaršiji! :D
That sounds delicious!
In algeria we have our special borek as well , we make the wrap dough out of semolina not flour and we call them dyool and then we shape them into cigars it's so delicious you must try it . And for more taste try the annabi bricks even more delicious
Can you tell me what do u call it in Arabic?
@@Hananinpalestine. نقولو بوراك ، و يوجد بريك عنابي
Obi, you are a wonderful teacher!
There's a burek place in the market in my city and they are honestly one of the best foods period. So unbelievably great. Can't wait to give this a try.
Thank you been looking for a recipe like this for quite some time now until I found this amazing one of yours.
One of the best Dishes I've ever had! I usually get Beef and Onion Borek at a Bosnian Restaurant that I go to. Keep up the good work Sir!
Wow slowly but surely this channel is becoming the golden standard to middle Eastern recipes
A biryani recipe would be a banger just like the chicken shawarma
Edit : i just realized this is the better version of egrolls 🤔
I just had an amazing Shrimp Biryani. If I do a recipe it would be more of the gulf style biryani than Pakistani or Indian
@@MiddleEats why not both after all Pakistan is part of the larger middle eastern area
Besides more videos = more views
Our definition of Middle Eastern is the SWANA region, as we define our channel by Arabic speaking countries + Turkey and Iran
You’ve become one of my favorite channels you hella inspire me bro
6:06 that was absolutely hilarious haha, love the sense of humour you bring out in your already amazing vids every now and then
I can't stop laughing, that was the funniest thing I've heard him say
the shaaaade lmfao
Yeah it was so funny 🤣🤣🤣
The parsley trick!!!! Amazing!
When you unwrap your pastry cover it with a clean tea towel that is just slightly damp. This will help prevent the pastry from drying out.
Great video. This is one of my favourite food channels on RUclips.
Thanks for the tip!
“Just like a certain country…” Ouch. Ouch. 😬
Game, Set, Match!
I actually have no idea what he's referring to. 🤷🏼♀️
You cheeky wa$$#@$ 😁
@@Anonymous_949 Who confuses crack and opioids, wtf. 🤦🏻♀️
@@goranbreskic4304 me either
I would love a video about all the different middle eastern dairy products like the cheeses, yogurts, creams.. we have a lot of them in our area but I never know what to get. I found something similar to clotted cream at one. The difference feta cheese I just guess every time. I never tried the normal cheese because I just have no idea what they are.
just wanted to say really love your content, keep up the good work man
Jazhak Allahu khairan brother💝🤲🏼 it looks wonderful 🤲🏼🤲🏼💝
I love cheese böreks and they look easier than I thought to make. But the best thing in this video is the parsley life hack!! Really clever; thank you!
Yeah the cheese ones are so easy. I'm thinking of doing this more in the future with fun fillings
Love ur channel! Thank you! :) can't wait to make this for my family
I miss the cigar shaped ones from my time in london- used to order them every single time I ate at a Turkish joint. Will make these, thanks for another cool video Obi!
Hey this looks delicious. There are much more easy recipes and with practice you would do this recipes perfectly too. One reminder about yufka it will be hard in air quickly so you should put yufkas you are not using under a towel for better outcome. Love from Turkey
These look amazing and I'm definitely going to try them soon. I really appreciate that you show both the successes and the not-so-successes. That helps give us less skilled cooks confidence :)
I’m enjoying the sass and shade that’s coming out of you in this episode 😆
Can you make it with lox or smoked salmon?
I never thought of lox and borek! Now, that sounds interesting. I'd go easy on the stretchy cheese and heavy on the feta if I was making that. I think you're onto something there.
Yoo the parsley-grater trick is a godsend!
Thank you for all of your hard work! I am in love with your channel
Thanks
6:05 BRUTALITY
love how sparing you are with these jokes man, I love being ambushed by them every few videos
Awesome Obi !
Absolutely great dish. Thank You!!
Absolute gold as always ❤
Excellent!
Those both look delicious. I felt your panic over them cracking like that but it's good to show that it turned out well in the end. Also, the parsley through the grater is genius!
I adore börek with spinach. Thank you for sharing it. Though I probably will always go the lazy rout and buy it at the Turkish bakery…
Bourak annabi (from Annaba, Algeria) is a whole other level of this, try it!
Original word is "bÖrek". It comes from the Turkish word "büzmek" which means "to shir". It is a nice Anatolian dish and not originally from Balkan. Balkan did not have börek and puff pastry before Ottoman. It is a very common way to prepare dough in Central Aisa. Mostly cooked with stream or in a pan. In Anatolia they started to back it in tandoori/oven etc. Where do you have your informations from?!
Yeah, I was pretty sure that the Turks introduced borek to the Balkans, not the other way around...
@@lifeofabronovich7792 Balkan people bake it very well.
It's obvious that börek, pita and also the Austrian/south German Strudel have their origin with the Central Asian Turkic peoples. Just have a look at some of the Uzbek or Uyghur channels here on youtube. It's amazing.
@@natviolen4021 I wonder if samosas also come from a similar origin
@@lifeofabronovich7792 They actually share the place of origin. There they are called samsa, mostly with a meat filling and baked in a tandoor.
Adopted by Indian people, they became merely vegetarian and fried in stead of baked.
I am eating one now haha from a Turkish bakkery. But love to make them someday myself.
That yufka you used for the rolled börek looked very thin and brittle to me. Was that really saç yufka? The one I buy is a bit thicker, more elastic and does not crack that easily. To a beginner I also would recommend to make a layered börek or pockets in stead of a spiralled one.
omg this looks ridiculously delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank god you finally have a real knife! enjoy!!!
Its not only popular Turkey is the origin of this dish and the only country who should get credits. Its a turkish word and not middle eastern or of balkan countries!
Good call on the mozarella sub... I usually do it the other way around, using kasar for my pizzas lol
That all looks amazing. You may have better luck with the pastry not cracking if you keep the remaining pastry sheets covered while you fill and roll the current sheet.
It looks like Spanakopita. The secret to great Spanakopita is to add in fresh Basil and too much cheese to the Spinach. P.S. the parsley strainer idea is pure genius thanks. I am making the cigar Borek tomorrow. They look amazing.
I've been making borek since I was 6 but I watched it anyway, because I'm on diet and can not eat any borek these days 😢
Love the "parsley-grater trick" ❤
Nice Recipe
hey obi was wondering where in the uk do You get baharat and what brand do you use.
Greenfields brand has the best spice quality in the UK for Middle Eastern spices. Other than that, Rajah is amazing for whole spices. You can find them at most Arabic or Turkish grocery stores, and greenfields sell online!
@@MiddleEats thanks man gonna pick it and Aleppo pepper flakes up
The crack epidemic joke earned you a thumbs up 😂😂😂😂
I love Obis content
What spices go into beef borek?
After we are Done with racing on wednesdays during the sailing season we often have börek on Board and its almost always the first thing to be finished 😂
That grater trick is wizardry
Ah, childhood.delicious delicious childhood.
Nom
STOO SHOPPING AT WAITROSEEEEEEEEEEE ALDI IS THE WAY TO GOOOOO
Spray the yufka with a bit of water before painting on the sauce, and it won't break.
in Balkans it's called Burek. We don't fry it, we bake it in the the oven
we bake it in Turkey too
@@mustafaerdem1531 because it is from turkey
Heya, I'm doing a short skit about Börek and I was wondering if I could use about 10 seconds of footage with credit? No worries if not. Thank you!
Oof, I definitely have to make Sigaras again. I‘ll add Dill to the filling, to me that’s kind of essential.
Sounds great
Using the box grater to quickly strip parsley from the stem is the most redpilled kitchen trick I've seen in months. You've impressed me.
Note: it's so common to see horizontal layers, I found it very unique how you got such perfect VERTICAL layers!!
In Syria we add a little bit of pomegranate molasses to the spinach.
I love borekas
Also because this is fried cheese in dough I can assure you it will appeal to your American audience
armenian borek w tarragon is sooo good
Pulling the parsley stems through the grater????? *THE* best tip *EVAH*
Daaamn that parsley trick is fucking genius
I usually cook spinach in a big pot or wok. It keeps it from getting all over the place while it shrinks into tiny little strands
We albanians call it PITE and my mom uses cream instead of cheese goes amazing with the spinach
In Greece it's also called pita
That sounds amazing! What other fillings do you have?
I tried bureks at this Albanian place a few days ago! They were really good
Once again, I have everything on hand. Are you living in my fridge ?
Oui!
@@MiddleEats thanks for the French response as I'm French 🤣💕
😋😍
Hawaushe please...
Dear Obi. Can you make shor gogal? It's a type of pastry from Azerbaijan
I'll look into it!
now i knew why Popeye loves it so much
What a burn and I don't mean the food! Lol, keep them coming.
Yoooo that offhanded comment about the crack epidemic had me spitting out my drink
We can treat this crack epidemic like it didnt exsist 😂
priceless
STRAIGHT FACTS!
almost fell off my chair at that one
Ah... I always use the parsley stems - more flavor, but I also obliterate them into a fine paste.
Hi Obi!
Here in Egypt, all I could find for pastry is what they call "goulasha" here.
Also, could you do a video for "Roak" more pronounced "Ro-A"
The cheese sticks are making saliva glands go nuts. The supermarket is calling me
DAMN i didn't hear the crack line until now 💀
absolutely side busting
Germans love these
Cheese boraks used to be my fave food ever ever ever … but I can’t eat gluten anymore so just waiting for someone to invent GF filo pastry 😭
It’s not filo, it’s yufka.
@@TheBLGL is it GF? I’ve never seen yufka. As a kid my mum used to use filo pastry so that’s all I know and loved.
to make a comparison: yufka is a bit thicker than filo and a bit savory like a bread as we usually use it to make savory pastries like böreks in Turkey while most filos have more of a neutral taste (almost tasteless) so can be used to make sweets, especially baklava. As for being GF, i know for a fact there are few brands available with GF yufka choices in here. Perhaps if you google it, i hope you may find some available in your area. And even if you don't, please don't lose hope. When it comes to börek, there are tens of different kinds of börek in Turkey so if you have a real craving just use your creativity and a lot of options in pastries with fillings are almost close enough in taste 😄
I just use rice paper instead, it works wooooonders !
@@hedehey1 thank you so much for the info 💚 I will try to find some!
Will be attempting this soon. Thank you for the recipes and the crack joke
Keep your yufka or filo wrapped in a damp towel as you work on one. Prevents drying out and breaking.
We pretend any epidemic doesn't exist 😑
Yes keeping it covered is essential. I should have mentioned that
💟🤗💓💓👍👍
🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤
Great recipe! Blessings in the Name of Lord Jesus Christ who is the only True God 🙏
6:20 the British have a crack epidemic? Lol can't say I realised that.
In Bulgaria 🇧🇬 we eat "banitsa" not "borek".It is basically the same but different varieties.The filling is with eggs,Bulgarian white cheese-which in many countries is called Greek cheese but this cheese is not Greek it is traditionally Bulgarian,Bulgarian yoghurt and butter. And many more varieties. I love it.
Lol crack epidemic 6:06 your jokes are so sudden and unexpected that it takes me awhile haha
Sharp knives are important, did you do yours yourself?
Yes I did, it took forever!
@@MiddleEats I hope we get a video
Ethan Chlebowski has amazing videos on sharpening. I'm not at the level yet to explain it