Paçanga Böreği is a famous Anatolian region pastry (börek) that is made with phyllo sheets, pastırma (Turkish pastrami) and cheese. In Turkey, Paçanga Böreği is a much-loved pastry considering the other pastry varieties because of its delicious Pastrami ingredient which is called Pastırma in Turkish. The main ingredients of Paçhanga Böreği are pastırma, phyllo sheets, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and green peppers.
Pastırma is a salted, air-dried, and aged beef that is coated with a cumin-based paste called Çemen. Pastırma is native to the Kayseri city of Turkey. Kayseri city is located in the heart of Anatolia and where my father and my ancestors are originally from. Today, Kayseri city is the biggest producer and exporter of Pastırma in Turkey.
In Turkey, you can find Pastırma mainly in grocery stores or meat markets. If you don’t know how to source Pastırma in your country, I suggest you look at either Armenian or Greek grocery stores. These grocery stores are importing this beef continuously from Turkey and selling this delicious beef in their stores. If you can’t source it in any condition, I suggest you try bacon instead.
The Story of Pastırma
One of the oldest flavors that the Turks bring to world cuisine is Pastırma. It has been in Turkish cuisine since the Hun and Oghuz Turks period. At that time, the Turks were preparing this beef with salt and other ingredients as a long-lasting nutritious food for their long journeys.
During their journeys, they were keeping this beef in a special food protection wrap that attached to the horse saddle. So during the long journeys, the beef gets squeezed between the horse rider’s legs and horse skin and has a thin cylinder shape. If you visit Hungarian museums, you can see the horse saddles, which belong to the Hun Empire period, that have special spots for food carrying and protection.
Paçanga Böreği
Ingredients
- 8 slices of Pastırma
- 200 gr cheddar cheese grated
- 6 phyllo (filo) sheets
- 2 green peppers diced cut
- 2 tomatoes peeled and diced cut
- 1 red pepper diced cut
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp milk
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 teaspoon grounded black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the top
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp sesame seed
Instructions
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Cut/chop the each Pastırma (pastrami) slices into 3 to 4 pieces evenly.
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Mix the diced cut green peppers, red peppers, tomatoes, grated cheddar cheese, and Pastrami pieces in a large bowl.
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In a separate bowl, mix the egg, milk, black pepper, salt and vegetable oil.
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Cut the phyllo (filo) sheets in triangle shape evenly and stack on top of each other.
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Lay two triangle shape of phyllo (filo) sheets on top of one another and spread a tbsp of (egg, milk, vegetable oil, black pepper and salt) mix with food brush. (We are using 2 sheets on top because phyllo sheets are very thin and it may not hold the filling).
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And then put 3 tbsp of filling on it and then roll smoothly. Continue until the all phyllo sheets and filling finish.
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Grease baking dish and place the rolls in it. And then brush the top of the each roll with egg yolk and then garnish them with sesame seeds.
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Bake the pastries in the pre-heated oven at 200 C (390 F) for about 30 minutes or until they have golden color.
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Serve hot.
