Tray bake filo pastry with ground meat and onions; Kiymali Borek

Turkish tray bake pastry with ground meat and onions; Kiymali tepsi boregi

My parents are visiting from Istanbul; it’s been over three years since they were last here, it really is wonderful to have them in England. Regular visitors of this blog knows that my parents’ love of Turkish food and passion for sharing others have been a major influence on us and hence the share of delicious Turkish cuisine in my blog. You can imagine how excited I am about spending time with parents, cooking together with my mother, gathering  with friends and family to share.

Spread the ground meat & onion mixture over the yufka or filo pastry sheets

My mother brought some wonderful yufka, Turkish fresh, paper thin sheets of pastry – a real luxury as I can’t get them here in England. We made this easy and delicious tray bake with ground meat and onions; kiymali tepsi boregi. Another delicious borek you can easily make at home using filo pastry sheets if yufka is not available.

This lovely recipe and over 90 authentic recipes are included at Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book. Signed hardback copies of Ozlem’s Turkish Table is 30 % off via GBPublishing at this link, until  end July 3rd 2020. It is delivered worldwide, including the USA. The offer has been our way of helping out food lovers with home cooking, especially during the Covid 19 lock down. Many thanks for all your kind words and sharing your delicious creations with us. Signed copies will still continue at this link.

My best wishes,

Ozlem

4.7 from 3 reviews

Tray bake filo pastry with ground meat and onions; Kiymali Borek

 

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An easy and delicious kiymali borek, Turkish savory pastry with ground meat and onions filling. Yufka, Turkish fresh pastry sheets are used traditionally, but filo pastry sheets also work very well. You can serve as an appetizer or as a morning or afternoon snack with tea.

Author: Ozlem Warren

Recipe type: Boreks, Turkish Savory Pastries

Cuisine: Turkish Cuisine

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• 3 sheets of yufka Or 12 sheets of filo pastry (each sheet 48cmx25cm), thawed
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 400 gr/ 14 oz. ground beef or lamb (or a mixture)
• 2 eggs
• 8 fl. oz. /1 cup whole or semi skimmed milk + extra 2 tbsp. milk for the top of the pastry
• 4 fl. oz./ ½ cup water
• 45ml / 3 tbsp. olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a wide, heavy pan and stir in the chopped onions. Sauté over medium heat for 3-4 minutes to soften them up.
2. Stir in the ground meat to the onion mixture and sauté for another 5 minutes over medium heat. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper
3. Beat 1 egg and 1 egg white (save the remaining 1 egg yolk in a small bowl for later) and mix with 1 cup of milk and ½ cup of water.
4. Grease a baking tray with 1 tbsp. olive oil and spread 1 sheet of yufka (with excess of yufka hanging out of tray) or 2 sheets of filo pastry on top of one another.
5. Spread 3 tbsp. of milk, water & egg mixture evenly over the pastry.
6. Lay the next sheet of yufka or 2 more sheets of filo pastry. Again, Spread 3 tbsp. of milk, water & egg mixture evenly over the pastry.
7. If using filo pastry, lay two more sheets. Again, Spread 3 tbsp. of milk, water & egg mixture evenly over the pastry.
8. Spread the ground meat and onion mixture evenly over the pastry.
9. Lay the last layer of yufka sheet over the filling and tuck in and fold the excess sides of yufka sheet over the filling as a layer.
10. If using filo pastry sheets, spread the ground meat and onion filling over the 6th sheet, after spreading the egg, milk and water mixture.
11. Place 2 more sheets of filo pastry over the filling and continue to spread 3 tbsp. of milk, water & egg mixture evenly over the pastry. Lay the 10th filo sheet spread 3 tbsp. of milk, water & egg mixture evenly over the pastry. Then lay the last two sheets of filo pastry.
12. Mix 2 tbsp. milk with the remaining egg yolk and remaining 1 tbsp. olive oil (if you have any milk & egg and water mixture left, you can add this mixture too). Spread this mixture over the last sheet of yufka or filo pastry.
13. Bake in the pre-heated oven (180C/350F) for 20- 25 minutes, until the top of the pastry turns to golden to light brown.
14. Once cooked, cover with a baking paper to keep moist and cool for 10 minutes. Slice in squares and serve warm.

Notes

If using frozen filo pastry, thaw overnight in the fridge or bring to room temperature 2 hours before using. If you’re using fresh filo pastry kept in the fridge (as in the UK), bring to room temperature 30 minutes before using. Keep the filo pastry covered with a damp cloth as you are working. This will help to avoid it getting too dry or less manageable.

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