Breakfast in Turkey

One of my favourite items on a Turkish breakfast menu is borek, a pastry made with thinly rolled sheets of dough that resembles phyllo pastry and which, in Turkish, is called yufka.  Fillings are typically cheese or meat.   I like them all but my favourite is the sigara borek, so-named because it resembles a cigar.

Here is a recipe for sigara borek:

• 1 pack phyllo pastry
• 250 grm feta cheese
• 1 egg
• Half a bunch of chopped parsley
• 250 ml olive oil

1. Break up the cheese with a fork. Add egg and chopped parsley and mix well.
2. Lay out sheets of phyllo pastry on a cold flat surface. Cover with a moistened cloth.
3. Cut pastry into 3 equal pieces, lengthwise.
4. Take two layers of pastry and place a teaspoon of the cheese mixture at the bottom edge of the pastry. Fold sides and roll pastry into a cigar shape. Lightly wet edges with fingertip to seal any open edges.
5. Fry pastries in hot oil until golden brown. This is a very quick process so you must work quickly. Drain on absorbent paper and serve.

Early in the morning in Istanbul, borek can be purchased from the many borekci  establishments that resemble bakeries.   The customers of these stores, mainly men and tourists, come in bleary-eyed and hungry and leave with smiles on their faces, or with large steaming paper parcels of large borek wedges – and plastic forks.  I have yet to see borek sigara sold in these places.  To a visitor, the huge rounds of borek could be mistaken for cake.  However, the cake-shaped mounds, with their appearance sometimes resembling wide-ribboned pasta, are generally filled with meat or cheese.  While some can be a little oily, I have never tried one that was not delicious.  I prefer the cheese version.

Other items typically served at breakfast in a Turkish hotel include:  sliced cucumber, fresh tomatoes, fresh cheese (feta), fresh crusty bread, hard-boiled eggs, omelettes, fresh fruit, preserves, honey, yogurt, orange juice and lots of cay (tea.)  In some hotels you may find instant coffee, while in others you will find Turkish and/or percolated coffee.