It's time for something new because it's been almost a week since I last played in the kitchen and Hurmasice lasted almost that long. Unbelievable but true.
If you've ever been to the Balkans, I assume that börek was on your menu at least once. We came into possession of this treat from the Turks, along with baklava, which is a sweet version of.
A hot, fatty quarter of meat and crusts that have been hand-flaked.
I recently watched a show in which there was a debate on what is börek and what is pita? At the same time, several locations, or rather countries, such as Bosnia and Montenegro, were visited and investigated.
When I was a kid, eating börek was a real adventure because mom didn't always have a lot of time to manually process the crusts for the same, and that's just not the case with store-bought crusts. There were two versions, with meat and cheese. We preferred to always have börek with meat, and I only ever remembered it being served as that, because pie with cheese was often made for breakfast. Later, different varieties, pizza flavor, ham/cheese, and even Nutella experiments (which is obviously unimaginable to me) appeared.
Speaking on that subject, Bosnia claims that pies contain spinach, cheese, and potatoes while börek is only made with meat. Even though Montenegro claims that anything is conceivable, I will still side with Bosnia because, yes, börek can only be made with meat; all other are pies.
In that name potato pie!
Sunday should be light when it comes to responsibilities, but that doesn't apply to food either.
Two large onions, a couple of potatoes, a package of premade pie crusts, a teaspoon of baking soda, some carbonated water, a teaspoon of baking powder, and some fat.
Fat, well, as there are many different opinions on what is what, the taste of these diakonia will also be affected by the fat you use. In Serbia, lard is most commonly used, while in Bosnia, oil is used; I assume the same comes with Turkey, because pork is not consumed in these countries for religious reasons.
I used lard.
It helps to keep the crusts moist and not dry when combined with water and salt.
Cut the onion into small cubes, the smaller the better. I don't like finding pieces of onion in my pies, so I always try to ensure that the melt almost crystallizes during stewing. Grate the potatoes and sauté everything together for a few minutes, until the potatoes are soft but not fried all the way through; we'll finish them in the oven.
Add spices, such as pepper and salt, then mix in a teaspoon of baking soda. Dissolve the baking soda with carbonated water (about half a deciliter). On the side, I added another tablespoon of melted lard for sprinkling the crust.
Spread the filling on the corner of the crust itself, and roll it up. You can also spread the filling over the entire crust and then roll it in, that's a free choice. Then you roll it up again in the shape of a rose.
The way a börek is stacked or served is another way to tell it apart from a pie, aside from the filling. A bórek is always made in the shape of a triangle or a quarter of a round pan, with the crusts stacked on top of each other and the filling placed only between the middle crusts, while the pie is generally folded. But If I'm not wrong, in Turkey you will get it in the shape of horseshoes, folded in this way I am showing above. In recent years, this trend of serving has spread to our area, so I find it irritating.
Soak the stacked pies with the remaining water and baking powder, a little fat and a few grains of coarse salt.
Bake at 200c until done.
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, with yogurt or a piece of cheese, isn't matter the perfect combination of potatoes, onions, and crispy crust will have you forgetting whether you're eating börek or pie.
Bon appetite!