Becoming a fiend – a borek fiend

Recently I have become a fiend, a borek fiend. Hey, don’t judge, its not hard to do, especially when your travelling through the Balkans and every corner you turn a borek is waiting patiently to be devoured. Once you’ve tasted the delicious filled pastry, its hard not to think about getting your next fix or planning your whole day around indulging is as much borek as possible.

I first discovered borek in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The snail shaped spinach and cheese filled pastry was addictive, even on a hot summer’s day. The obsession grew throughout Turkey and into Greece and more recently we’ve borek-ed our way through Bulgaria and Slovenia.

My first borek experience

So what’s all the fuss about? What exactly is borek? Well, let me tell you…

Borek (or böregi, byrek, burek, banitsa, pita or boureki depending on which country you are in) is made from thin layers of flaky dough known as yufka, most often filled with sirene or feta cheese. The outside is crispy and the inside ouzes soggy goodness from the combination of dough , cheese, egg, oil, salt and pepper. They are commonly eaten with a yogurt drink or plain yogurt (one of our favourite ways to eat them). As well as the more common cheese fillings, each country and region then has their own specialities of cheese, spinach, onion, potato or meat fillings. Sweet borek are often made with stewed fruit or pumpkin filling.

'Cigarette' style Turkish Borek served with delicious dips

Again each country and region has an individual take on the size and shape of this pastry, and the final form can be anything from small individual bite sized boreks, to larger round portions to whole trays that are cut and sold by weight.

Thought to have been invented in the Anatolian Provinces of the Ottoman Empire, borek is a very popular in cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, especially throughout the Balkans and across territories of former Yugolslavia. It is a a staple at most bakeries and regularly eaten as fast food.

Trays of borek sold by weight

Borek are a great snack or quick meal and taste great hot or cold. Plus we feel like we can justify eating as many borek’s as humanly possible because they are a budget traveller’s best friend when it comes to food. Not only are they extremely filling they are very cheap. Ranging from 50 cents (Bulgaria) to around 1 euro (Bosnia), to a maximum of 2 euros (Slovenia). Borek really can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner (or for all three at the height of our fiend frenzy). Chuck a salad on the side (when we are feeling a bit health concious) and you are good to go.

Learning how to make traditional Bulgarian banitsa

During our volunteer work placement in Bulgaria, we were invited to lunch by a family living in the nearby village, and were lucky enough to be taught how to make traditional Bulgarian sirene banitsa. We gathered around on the lounge room floor in this family’s house, which was situated in a tiny little village high up in the Rodope mountains. Lily (our host) was translating the ingredients and instructions. The banitsa contained sirene cheese, oil, salt, pepper and eggs, in this case eleven eggs, one for each person. When it came out the oven, wow, delicious. Piping hot banitsa, freshly prepared in front of our eyes. True to Bulgarian hospitality we were given a huge slice and offered more and more until we were bursting at the seams.

The finished product: freshly made Bulgarian banitsa

A recent discovery was stumbling across ‘mesna’ (meat) filled borek in Slovenia. My oh my, what a find. As you know, we love our food and one of our great joys in travelling comes from trying new local specialities on a daily basis. However, you do sometimes miss the favourites available at home, in our case, a proper Aussie sausage roll, smothered of course in tomato sauce. Something we have not had the joy of eating for the past nine months (I made an attempt in the UK which ended in my undercooked, bland, feral excuse for a sausage roll, made from chicken none the less, being thrown in the nearest bin). So when we found the mensa borek, jackpot, it tastes exactly like a sausage roll. Even though the shop owner was horrified that we wanted to cover it in tomato sauce, we did so nonetheless and it was fantastic!

During our trip to Slovenia, we admit, we may have gone a bit overboard in terms of the consumptions of borek, knowing that we most likely won’t be back in Europe for awhile and our next stop is Asia. Well, coincidently we got off the train in Munich, walked about 100m and yep you betcha pracitically tripped over a stand selling borek. Yhay!

Fiend in action...nom nom nom

Eat up fellow travellers. Come on, indulge your inner fiend!