Israeli street food – the magnificent and humble boureka

The square shape of the bourekas tells us that they are filled with a potato filling

One does not have to spend a long time in Israel to get your first introduction to a boureka. These savory stuffed pastries are everywhere

You'll find them for breakfast in hotel dining halls, in countless bakeries and coffee shops, on picnics and even at restaurants that only serve bourekas. They are often eaten in Israeli homes as part of a 'light' or diary meal in the evenings. (Most households in Israel usually serve the large cooked meal at lunchtime.) More often than not, bourekas are also an integral part of the wonderful Friday or Shabbat brunch table.

To be really honest however, you basically eat a boureka whenever you encounter one. They are that irresistible.

If you stop to grab a quick coffee at a coffee shop, the comforting smell of the bourekas will convince you to upgrade to a 'café ve'ma afe' (coffee + pastry). Wandering through street markets, the sight of freshly baked bourekas and just about everyone walking with their own bourekas paper bag, will confirm that you should buy one, or even a few bourekas of your own.

Some weirdo's may try and convince you that it is possible to eat your boureka cold. Please don't listen to them. If your boureka is not warm from the oven, just reheat them for a few seconds. Most of the coffee shops that sell boureka, are quite happy to pop a cold boreka for a few seconds in a small toaster oven placed nearby for just this reason.

Bourekas are made in various various shapes and sizes but they are always have these characteristics in common:

• They are made from either puff-pastry or phyllo pastry
• They have some type of savory filling such as mushrooms, cheese or spinach
• They can be eaten by hand
• They are addictively delicious

The origin story of the boureka

Ask anyone in Israel and they will tell you that boureka originated in Turkey and was brought to Israel ages ago. Some will say that boureka is an ancient Balkan thing and others that bourekas actually started out as empanadas in Spain, and ended up eventually in Israel via the Sephardic Jews who got kicked out from Spain way back in 1492. 

I think however that just about every country has some type of pastry dish filled with something savory. Their origins go all the way back into time to the original pastry-chef who invented pastry. As history has taught us, that pastry chef was most probably a woman who was never credited for her wonderful gift to humanity. Right ..?? ☺

But let's get back to the eating part of the delicious Israeli bourekas.

How to tell the different types of bourekas apart

You just have to step into an Israeli bakery to realize that bourekas come in many different shapes. Every shape is a non-verbal message about which type of filling you can find inside the bourekas.

• Square or rectangular bourekas means that they are filled with potatoes
• The triangle bourekas have cheese inside them
• Spiral shaped bourekas are the newcomer on the block and are the pizza bourekas
• The 3D-triangle boureka is filled with mushrooms
• The stuffed spiral boureka has a spinach filling
• The half-mooned shaped boureka is also filled with cheese, but with kashkaval cheese which is a type of stretched curd-cheese

You’ll find other shapes of bourekas too in Israel, especially in the avant garde type of  coffee shops. Though there is a very good reason why the traditional shapes and tastes of the traditional bourekas have not changed much over the years. 

How to make your own bourekas

In one word:
Don’t.

There are bakeries all over Israel and there is nothing easier than popping in for a few seconds and popping out with a bag full of baked savoury pastries. Unless you work at an actual bakery, why should you go through all that hassle and effort to produce a subpar product?

However...

A big however, though. 

There is the second-easy option of buying pre-made bourekas in the supermarket and then bake them by yourself in your oven at home.

1. You basically just place the frozen bourekas on a baking tray to defrost for a bit.
2. Brush the dough with a beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds and pop into a 180-degree oven until done.
3. And if you do not live in Israel and do not have access to Israeli supermarkets or bakeries.

That’s easy to solve - just come and visit Israel already! 

Why bourekas should come with their own warning label

I cannot end this blogpost without giving you this warning…

Boureka crumbs can literally get everywhere. Especially if the boureka is made from puff pastry.

Boureka crumbs are the sand of the food world.

Your best, and basically only, course of action is to embrace the experience and let the crumbs do their crumbs thing.. One can try and wipe away the crumbs as best as you can afterwards.

And if you are one of those super-tidy and fastidious people? You are going to have the time of your life hunting down each crumb. For quite a long time. lol!

Super tidy or  ccc (constantly crumb covered...

Enjoy your delicious, tasty and magnificent boureka and let the crumbs fall where they may!

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