🥟 Sigara böreği (cheese cigars)

Name: Sigara böreği (cheese cigars)
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: 8 sheets phyllo or 2 large yufka sheets; 250 g white cheese (feta-style), crumbled; A bunch of parsley, finely chopped; A pinch of black pepper or chilli flakes; A small bowl of water for sealing; Vegetable oil for frying

Origin: Turkey

306kcal

per serving · 120 g

255kcal

per 100 g

10 gProtein8 g / 100 g

18 gFat15 g / 100 g

26 gCarbs22 g / 100 g

Sigara böreği are thin, cigar-shaped rolls of pastry filled with crumbled white cheese and parsley and fried until golden and crackling. The name means “cigarette börek”, after their slim shape. Crisp outside and soft and salty inside, they are a favourite meze and breakfast item in Turkey, served hot, often with tea.

Diets

✓

Vegetarianno meat or fish in a typical recipe

✓

No pork

Not veganbecause of: feta cheese

Contains glutenbecause of: phyllo pastry

Contains dairybecause of: feta cheese

Not keto22 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Milk

What it is made of

phyllo pastryfeta cheeseparsley

Recipe

4 servings35 min

Ingredients

8 sheets phyllo or 2 large yufka sheets
250 g white cheese (feta-style), crumbled
A bunch of parsley, finely chopped
A pinch of black pepper or chilli flakes
A small bowl of water for sealing
Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Mix the cheese with the parsley and pepper.
Cut the pastry into long triangles or strips about 10 cm wide.
Put a tablespoon of filling along the wide end, fold in the sides and roll up tightly into a thin cigar; wet the tip with water to seal.
Fry in 2 cm of oil at 170 °C for 2–3 minutes, turning, until golden all over.
Drain on paper and serve hot.

How to make it lighter

Fried pastry soaks up oil: for a lighter version brush the rolls with 1 tbsp oil and bake at 200 °C for 15–20 minutes.
Count your rolls — three or four with a big salad make a satisfying meze plate.
Fry in hot oil (170–175 °C) and drain well on paper so less oil stays in the pastry.

History

Sigara böreği is one of the best-known members of the börek family of filled pastries that spread across the former Ottoman lands. Today it is a staple of Turkish breakfasts, meze tables and home cooking, and similar cheese rolls are made across the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Count it in one photo

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →