Turkish Pacanga Pastry - Borek Recipe

 

Paçanga Pastry

Turkish Pastry Rolls with Pastrami / Pastirma, Cheese and Vegetables (Paçanga Böreği)

Every cuisine is unique and special throughout the world. Our world turns to both global willage and global cuisine and all world's people are part of this rich culture. Especially, we feel very fortunate to be a part of this rich and welcoming culture. In today's world, you can find whatever you want in markets in your region. Forexample; you can get every kind of ingredient from the markets very easily and cook a very famous Mexican beans dish, Italian spaghetti and Turkish shepherd salad for the dinner very easily in your kitchen. We mean that; you can prepare an international foods table, whenever you want it. Because internet covers amazing recipe websites. And we have read more than we probably should have. From famous chef or master bakery and technical specialist, to have cooking aficionados and budget experts. There are so many to great delicious food blogs choose from.  

On the other hand, we try to share our traditional and very common dishes over the internet. Turkish cuisine is healthy, delicious, affordable and most recipes are very easy to make. Thanks God! Bye the help of internet, we have shared our recipes to world and have had many friends over the our blogsite from all around the world. We have received many many different recipes and cooking tips from every corner of the world. 

In this post we are going to share our historical and traditional pastry recipe with you. Its name is "Pacanga Pastry" (or Turkish Pastry Rolls with Pastrami/Pastirma, Cheese and Vegetables (Paçanga Böreği).   

We hope you enjoy these delicious rolls with Turkish pastrami/pastirma, dried cured beef with spicy coating, cheese and vegetables. They are great served as side dish (mezzes), appetizers, part of a weekend brunch or a delicious snack.

Turkish Pacanga Pastry

More About Turkish Pacanga Pastry (Paçanga Böreği)

Firstly, this is not a Cuban origin "Pachanga Dance". Maybe you know that, pachanga has been described as “a happy-go-lucky dance” of Cuban origin. Our pastry - borek named pacanga -pronounced “pachanga”- we really don’t know if or how the two are related in any way. But it is not involved any dance. 

According to historians and some master chefs; Turkish Pacanga Pastry (Paçanga böreği) came from the Sephardic Jewish who moved to Ottoman Empire from Spain and Portugal in 15. Century. They mostly settled in Istanbul city (Constantinople) and they still mostly live in Istanbul city. Turkish Pacanga Pastry (Paçanga böreği) is regarded as a “traditional Sephardic Jewish specialty of Istanbul city, filled with pastrami/pastirma, Turkish Cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes and julienned green peppers that is fried in olive oil or baked in the oven and eaten as a side dish (mezze), appetizer”.

How to Make Turkish Pacanga Pastry (Paçanga Böreği)

Turkish Pacanga Pastry (Paçanga Böreği) is a Turkish pastry/borek (börek) variety that is especially popular in the region of Anatolia and in Istanbul city very much. This recipe is really very easy and not complicated. It is made by stuffing yufka or phyllo pastry with pastrami/pastirma (salted, aged, dried beef) and Turkish cheddar cheese. If you want, you can use Turkish sausage sliced (sausage-sujuk-sucuk/Turkish Sucuk) instead of the pastrami.

Pastrami (pastirma = “pressed”, in english: bacon) was obviously brought by the Turkic tribes from the Asia (Asian steppes). Delicious delicacy Turkish pastrami/pastirma, dried cured beef with a coating of spices (we called it cemen), it is consisting of cumin, fenugreek, garlic and hot chili flakes is also very much enjoyed in pastries and some dishes, as part of a side dish (mezze) spread in Anatolia (Turkey). This wind-dried beef, pastirma has been made in Central Anatolia for centuries. It has also been enjoyed throughout Middle Eastern as well as Eastern European countries and has a special part in Armenian and Lebanese cuisines. Some of the finest pastirma is being produced in Kayseri city, in Middle Anatolia, Turkey; it almost has a silky texture and just melts in the mouth, very aromatic with the spicy cemen coating; we hope that you can have a chance to enjoy pastirma in Kayseri city. 

Turkish pastrami/pastirma or bacon

Apart from the basic ingredients (phyllo or hand made dough, Turkish pastrami and cheese), some people also like to add peppers and tomatoes to the filling. These juicy vegetables complement the rich, spicy taste of pastrami. The dough is rolled, cut into rectangles, then fried in pan. This pastry/borek can also be baked in the oven, but frying is the traditional method. Turkish Pacanga Pastry (Paçanga böreği) is served hot and it is typically eaten as an appetizer.

We used handmade dough for our pacanga pastry, but if you want, you can use phyllo pastry sheets for your pastry.

Ingredients: For pastry; 2 Turkish yufka sheets or 4 
Phyllo sheets. Our yufka sheet thicker than the phyllo

For this recipe store bought phyllo or yufka sheets are better

Ingredients: For filling; Pastrami/pastirma or sausage

Ingredients: For filling; 2 Tomatoes,  2 green peppers,
Cheddar cheese or mozzarella cheese

Ingreduents: For filling; salt and ground black pepper

Ingredients: For filling; 1 Tablespoon olive oil

Ingredients: For stuffing; vegetable oil and water

Ingredients: For topping; egg, bread crumble, olive oil
and milk

For filling: Chop the pastrami/pastirma or bacon

For filling: if you want you can use sausage instead 
Of the pastrami / pastirma

For filling: Chop the green peppers 

For filling: Chop the tomatoes. 

For filling: mix the ingredients (pastrami or sausage, green pepper
And tomatoes)

For filling: Grate the cheddar cheese and add the mixture 

For filling: mix grated cheddar cheese with pastrami
Green peppers and tomatoes

Or mix grated cheddar cheese with sausage, green peppers
And tomatoes  

For stuffing: mix water and vegetable oil well.

For stuffing: wet the each pastry sheet with water and 
Vegetable oil mixture

Wet the rest of the yufka/phyllo with water and oil mixture

Then divide each pastry sheet
Into 4 qarters

Then put a tablespoon of pastrami or sausage mixture
On the wide end of pastry sheet

Do same process to rest of the pastry sheets 

Then roll it up like a fat cigar

For topping: add egg, milk and olive oil in a bowl

Then mix them very well

For topping: place a cup of bread crumble into a plate

Then soak each pastry roll into mixture 

Then cover with the bread crumble 

Do the same process to rest of the pastry rolls

Then line a baking sheet with parchment paper

Then place the pastries on the oven tray

Then bake them for about 20-25 minutes or unil golden

Serve warm 

Recipe for Turkish Pacanga Pastry (Paçanga Böreği)

In our cuisine. What we know is this crispy borek recipe is an amazing and perfect appetizer. Once you have access to the ingredients of this pastry, it is fairly easy to make. Generally, they are fried traditionally and we chose to bake them in the oven; they turned out very well.

Here it is our Turkish Pacanga Pastry (Paçanga Böreği) recipe;

Very good family favourite;

Serve: 4-6 servings, Preparation Time: 10 -15 minutes, Cooking Time: 25-30 minutes, Cuisine: Mediterranean & Anatolian Cuisines,

Ingredients:

For Pastry-Borek/byrek: 

• 2 pieces round Turkish yufka or 4 sheets of phyllo pastry (nearly 46-47cmx24-25cm, 19”x10” each), (our yufka is thicker than the phyllo), 

For Filling:

• 8 -10 slices of pastrami/pastirma (Turkish dried cured beef), roughly chopped, or Turkish sausage sliced (25-30 slices sausage-sujuk-sucuk/Turkish Sucuk), (also you can use bacon),
• 2 Green peppers - pointy green pepper (or 1/2 green bell pepper), finely diced
• 2 small tomatoes, finely diced
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil, (nearly 15 ml),
• 1 Cup of grated or shredded Turkish cheddar cheese (we call it Kasar peyniri, nearly 150-200 gr.) (or mozzarella cheese), for a milder taste,
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt and ground black pepper for seasoning,

For Stuffing:

• 1 cup of water to brush the pastries, (nearly 200 ml),
• 1 cup of vegetable oil, (nearly 200 ml),

For Topping:

• 1 Cup of milk, 
• 1 egg, beaten to brush the pastries/boreks,
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil to brush the pastries/boreks,
• 1 Cup crumble bread,

Preparation:

1. First of all, put your all ingredients on your kitchen container. For filling; Combine chopped pastrami (or Turkish sausage sliced / sausage-sujuk-sucuk/Turkish Sucuk), peppers, tomatoes and cheese in a bowl and mix well, then add the olive oil, salt and ground black pepper and mix all ingredients well. 
2. For stuffing: mix the water and olive oil in a bowl. Then, wet the each pastry sheet with water and oil mixture. Then divide each pastry sheet into four quarters, then to eight pie-shaped pieces. Then put a tablespoon of pastrami mixture on the wide end of these pastry pieces and pull up the sides and roll (roll it up like a fat cigar). 
3. For topping: In a bowl crack an egg and beat it well with milk. Then, soak each pastry roll into this batter and then cover with bread crumbs. 
4. Then line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place pastries on the oven tray. Then preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas-4) and bake the pastries in the preheated oven for about 25 - 30 minutes or until golden. 
5. (If you want you can fry them instead of baking them. For frying: Heat sunflower oil in a wide pan on medium-high heat and fry each pastry/borek on both sides. Remove from the pan when the pastries/boreks turn red and crispy and place on kitchen towel to rid excess oil). 
6. Serve warm as a side dish (mezze) spread, weekend brunch or a tasty snack.

Enjoy! 

Please let us know how this "Turkish Pacanga Pastry (Paçanga Böreği) Recipe" turns out for you in the comments. We are always so eager to hear from you.

Turkish Pacanga Pastry / Borek

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