One of the dishes I enjoyed the most while cooking with Selin of Turkish Flavours was the Moska Borek. An easy dish to make, it was phyllo dough stuffed with feta, fresh dill and parsley and then fried in oil. It was so simple and yet so delicious, the flavors were clean and fresh and paired perfectly! However, since they were so amazing and I couldn’t stop eating them, the deep frying was too much for me. I understand that it was the traditional way to prepare the dish, but I wanted to try to make the delicious borek a little bit healthier. Fortunately, I found that brushing the pastries with a little bit of olive oil and then baking them was just as tasty and with a significantly lower amount of fat.
Here is the healthified version of the amazing borek- with a few other tweaks, after all it is difficult to get the fresh spices here in the mountains of Bulgaria!
- 1 Tbsp Dried Basil
- 2 tsp Dried Mint
- 150g Feta
- 1 package Phyllo Dough
- Small bowl or cup of water
- Olive Oil
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Mix the feta, basil and mint until smooth. If needed, add a few drops of water to help smooth it out.
- Lay the phyllo sheets out on clean surface and cut sheets into 4 equal strips. Place 2 teaspoons of filling on one corner of the phyllo dough.
- Fold the corner up diagonally so that it forms triangle, like folding a flag, Continue folding the lowest corner up diagonally until you have a small, triangular pastry. When you get to the end, dip your finger in the water and blot a little bit of water along the edge of the pastry to help seal the edge.
- Repeat until you have used all of the filling. Brush the top of each pastry with a tiny bit of olive oil (or spray with pan spray), place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve!
