Sabrina Ghayour's Turkish ‘Sigara’ Borek



1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, line a baking tray with baking/oven paper (not greaseproof) and brush generously with olive oil, which will prevent the cooked Boreks from sticking to the paper because of the beaten egg mix.

2. On a clean work surface or chopping board, take a sheet of filo pastry and mark (with your finger) a point into the centre of the edge of the width of the pastry. Then measure what the width of one of those halves are and rotate the filo so the length is across you and roughly cut that thickness off of the left hand side. This is so you have 3 roughly equal lengths of pastry to produce 3 Boreks from each sheet.

3. In a small bowl, crumble and mash the feta cheese with the dried mint and also the Greek yoghurt, until it is evenly mixed but not ‘wet’, just a little softer and easier to mould as desired.

4. Taking about a teaspoon at a time of the mixture, ensure the width of the pastry is aligned with your body and at the end closest to you, form a little sausage-like shape with the filling, not packing it too solidly and leaving just enough pastry on each side for the ends to be tucked in and rolled. Brush the first pastry covered turn with a little egg and continue to roll right the way almost to the end and once again try to fold some pastry over the ends for added security of your filling. Then brush on a little more beaten egg and finish the roll.

5. Place the finished Boreks onto the oiled baking tray and repeat until they are all done. Then brush them liberally with the beaten egg mixture and give each one a scattering of Nigella seeds, before placing in the oven for about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown. Serve immediately.


Prep time:

Cook time:

Serves: 12

  • 6 sheets of Jus Rol filo pastry

  • 3 large whole eggs, beaten

  • 150-200g feta cheese

  • 3 teaspoons of dried mint

  • 2 tablespoons of Total full fat Greek yoghurt

  • Nigella seeds to decorate

  • Olive oil to brush onto baking tray