I Learn How to Make Borekitas From Madam Fortuna

Borekita, fresh out of the oven, fragrant, warm and inviting

I had such a wonderful Saturday afternoon: it was like stepping into a different time in Istanbul, a time when the population make-up included sizable Jewish, Armenian and Greek communities.

I was with my friend Lusi who usually visits her mother at the weekend. This time, the invitation included me as I had happened to ask her if she ever made borekita.  This question followed on from my learning that it is the time of Purim right now and I wondered if perhaps borekita, a Jewish type of börek, were considered festive and associated with this feast.

It turns out that they’re not but boreka or borekita are very special, very Jewish, always savoury, and served with tea in the afternoon.According to Claudia Roden, the doyenne of Middle Eastern food and cooking whose book

According to Claudia Roden, the doyenne of Middle Eastern food and cooking whose book The Book of Jewish Food is such an amazing resource, these ‘little pies are the pride and joy and the trademark of the Sephardi table’. The name comes from the Turkish word börek but they differ from ours in size, shape, type of pastry and filling.

Lusi’s mother, the fourth of five daughters, is called Tuna short for Fortuna and, according to her daughter, is the family borekita expert.  She lives very near Göztepe Park which is nearby, with her husband Monsieur Albert/Mösyö Alber, who looked on benignly as we proceeded with the afternoon’s programme.

Here is the lovely and lively Madam Fortuna with the tray of borekitas before baking

But before we got down to business, Lusi and I were waved to two armchairs beside the window for a welcome cup of Turkish coffee. Any afternoon gathering always starts with this: we both took it az şekerli/ with a little sugar, and it was quite the most delicious coffee I have had for a very long time. Madam Tuna makes it herself, no Arçelik coffee machine for her!

Served with the mandatory glass of water, lokum and cookies

I was entranced when I realized they were not speaking Turkish amongst themselves but Ladino, the language of the Turkish and Balkan Jews which has evolved from the archaic Castilian dating from before the Spanish expulsion in 1492, influenced over time by French, Arabic, Spanish and Italian. I didn’t realize that Lusi could speak it, I don’t think her daughters can.
The Jews of Istanbul traditionally make their borekitas with one of two fillings depending on the season: aubergine in summer and potato in winter. But nowadays we can get aubergine all the year round so Madam Tuna had kindly prepared both fillings so that I could taste both. I looked them up in Claudia Roden’s book when I got home and sure enough, she has the recipes for both so I am giving them here. Apparently, the aubergine filling is particular to the Istanbul Jewish community so I was thrilled to be trying something so authentic.

• 500g/1lb aubergines
• 100g/4oz feta/white cheese/beyaz peynir
• 100g/4oz grated taze kaşar peyniri, kashkaval or Gruyere
• pepper
• salt (optional since the white cheese contains salt)

• Grill the aubergines either in the oven, under the grill or over the gas flame until soft and blackened. Put them in a colander and peel them. Then chop the flesh in the colander with a sharp knife to release the juices, and press them out with your hand. NB Madam Tuna wraps the peeled aubergines in a piece of muslin and squeezes them to get rid of as much liquid as possible.
• Turn the  aubergine into a bowl. Add the feta and mix well. Then add the kaşar, kashkaval or gruyere and the pepper and mix well. You may not need to add any salt. Taste before you do.

Sieving the flour into the liquid

•  ‘It is a very oily dough and must be rolled out without flouring the rolling pin or the surface. You want the rolling pin and surface to become oily so as not stick to the dough. Divide the dough into 4 pieces to make rolling easier. Roll out as thin as you can, and cut into 10cm/4 inch rounds with a pastry cutter. Scraps can be immediately rolled into a ball and rolled again so you do not waste any part of the dough.’

Madam Tuna did not use a rolling pin but just her hands. She took walnut-sized lumps of dough and rolled each into a ball. She pressed and pulled to get each as thin as possible.

See what a compact dough it makes

Rolling into balls; behind is the aubergine filling

Placing a spoonful of filling on each round

This dough stretches very easily: here she has pinched the edges firmly
together and twisted all around

• Put a heaped teaspoon of filling in the middle of each round. Fold the dough over the filling into a half-moon shape. Then pinch the edges firmly together to seal the pies. It is traditional in all the Jewish communities to pinch, fold and twist all around the edges.
• Place the little pies on oiled trays or a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

• Bake at 350F/180C for about 35 minutes or until slightly golden. they are best eaten hot but are also good cold.

I absolutely agree with this: they really are at their best when oven-warm, just like any börek. Of course, they can be reheated in the oven later on. They can also be frozen before cooking, and then cooked from frozen. Lusi tells me that in the summer on the island (Büyükada), she often makes one big tart and fills it with the aubergine filling.

And so it was, that while our borekitas were cooking, we sat at the table and enjoyed a wonderful cauliflower and artichoke salad along with a piyaz:

 

and then along came the borekitas, golden brown and simply heavenly, accompanied by glasses of çay.

Ellinize sağlık, Madam Fortuna! Çok teşekkürler!

Literally, health to your hands, thank you very much, Madam Fortuna!

 

What a fantastic afternoon!