•Sütsüz Yumurtasız Vegan Börek •
This beautiful egg-free and dairy-free Vegan Spinach and Cheese Börek is just as delicious as the original Turkish cuisine favorite.
Börek are traditional pastries eaten all throughout Turkey, as well as in some of the surrounding countries. They can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and make for a very filling meal. They’re also versatile in their content and shape. Indeed, you can find layered, rounded, and rolled börek that are stuffed with cheese, mushrooms, potatoes, vegetables, or even fruits.
In Turkey, börek is often made using sheets of very thin flatbread called yufka. They are a bit thicker than the phyllo sheets you’d use for making baklava. Because yufka are not so easy to find unless you have a Turkish or Middle Eastern market near you, I’ve modified my original recipe to replace the yufka with phyllo dough sheets, which are available in most supermarkets (sometimes located in the freezer section). I recommend that you try this recipe, as the results are excellent.
- 1 medium onion, diced small or 2-3 leeks, chopped or a combination of both
- 1lb (450g) of spinach, roughly chopped
- 2 cups nondairy milk (I use an unsweetened soy milk)
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 large pinch of black salt (if you have it)
- black pepper, to taste
- 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or vegan butter, melted
- ½ of a finished round of my Basic Almond Cheese recipe
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- 1lb (450g) package of phyllo dough pastry (28 sheets in total)
- toasted sesame seeds and nigella seeds for sprinkling on top
- Sauté the onion with a little olive oil over high heat in a large skillet. After a couple of minutes, the onions will become softer and translucent. Now add the spinach, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and cook for 5-7 minutes more until all of the spinach wilts down and exudes its liquid. After 5-7 minutes, drain out any excess liquid from the spinach and set the pan aside to cool down.
- In a medium bowl, combine the nondairy milk, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, salt, black salt, black pepper, and olive oil.
- When the spinach has cooled, crumble into it the Basic Almond Cheese, add the parsley, and pour in ¼ cup of that nondairy milk mixture. Stir it lightly just to incorporate.
- Preheat your oven to 400°F and place one oven rack in the middle and one in a lower position. Now you're ready to roll up the phyllo sheets. Keeping them under a damp towel as you work, remove 2 sheets of phyllo dough at a time. Keep one sheet on top of the other and face the shorter side (the 12 inch side) towards you. Roughly divide the filling into 14 portions (Don't worry, it doesn't have to be exact) and spoon one portion of the mixture onto the phyllo and spread it into a line with your fingers. Fold the sheets over the filling and start rolling them away from you until the are all rolled up. You will make 14 rolls in total.
- As you make each roll, transfer it to a 12-14 inch circular pan that has been greased with a few teaspoons of olive oil. Start from the outside and work your way in, pushing the rolls up against each other, until you've filled up the entire pan. Try to keep the seam side facing down. If you need to fill in any smaller gaps, just cut one of the rolls to the size you need.
- Once you've fit those 14 rolls snugly into the greased pan, pour the rest of the nondairy milk mixture over the top of all of the rolls. Try to coat the entire surface with the mixture. Sprinkle on toasted sesame seeds and nigella seeds and put the börek on the lower rack of the hot oven and bake for 20 minutes. After that, put the börek on the center rack of the oven and bake for another 20 minutes or until it is golden brown. Remove from oven and let it cool for 15-20 minutes before serving.
-If you don't have a 12-14 inch circular pan, you can easily make this in a large rectangular pan. Instead of making a circular pattern with the rolls, simply line them up next to each other tightly.
Delicious !!!!!
Genius <3 Looks so good.
I’ve always wanted to make a borek before.. but never got around too it. Thanks for the inspiration – I definitely will be making your spinach and cheese version. It looks delicious.
Borek is one of the nicest things I had as a kid for breakfast.
I will definitely going to try your version – it sounds lovely!
I love börek so much! Especially the spinach version 🙂
Thanks for this vegan version, I will definitely try it out!
Yummy! Looks so good and tasty. You have incredible recipes! Pinned!
Thank you for the kind words and the pinning, Azu!
Made this tonight. WOW. Just wow. Delicious!! Thank you SO much!!
Great! Thank you, Charlie! It’s one of my favorites. I made it last week with swiss chard…oh my. Might even be yummier than this spinach version!
Made this and ahhhhh delicious…thanks to you! Ive never seen it before actually but had seen a hilarious segment with jamie oliver making a serpent cake so knew the jist of putting it together. Kids all loved it! We love spinach in our home, fresh and cooked.
Great! Haha, I think the true test is the kids test. They are the most honest. I’m glad it worked out. It really doesn’t have to be fancy, just as long as it doesn’t burst apart (too much 🙂 ) while rolling it, it’s fine. If you guys like other greens, like swiss chard, kale, etc., you can make this recipe with those, too!
DELICIOUS!!!!! I did forget to defrost the phyllo dough so it ended up looking a little less pretty but it still tastes amazing!!
Omar, this is one of the tastiest, cleverest veganised dishes I have ever tasted. It is my “go to” when cooking for my non-vegan family and friends. They love it every time I make it. Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe (and the Basic Almond Cheese, that goes with it). I love that this recipe only uses half the Almond Cheese because it leaves me half for a delicious cheese platter.
Thank you Christine, your comment made my day! So glad it was a hit with you and your family. You can play around with the recipe by adding things like sautéed mushrooms, swiss chard, or cooked potatoes. Or tweak it with some spices or herbs like dill, paprika, etc.
I know what you mean about the cheese! I even like to have a few pieces for breakfast with olives, tomatoes, etc. So, I try to make it every weekend when I have free time. But whenever I don’t get the time to, I suffer all week without any, haha! 😀
I’m from Bulgaria, so this dish is part of my national cuisine. Thank you for the recipe, it turned out better than any borek I’ve ever tried in my life! I’ve got a somehow odd question: do you really eat it with a fork? 😀 Also, can you please make a veganised version of phyllo dough pastry filled with spreadable processed soft cheese with sesame on top? I can’t seem to find a recipe for such a thing anywhere and my pregnancy cravings are crazy because this is something I haven’t tasted in more than two years!
Hello Desislava! Yes, Bulgarians make very delicious borek, indeed! 😀 I’m so glad you enjoyed it. And about the fork… I usually just eat it with my hands but for presentation purposes, I threw a fork in the picture to make it look more dainty, haha!
Does the phyllo pastry you mentioned have a name in Bulgarian so I can look it up? If so, I’ll play around with veganizing it!
Thank you for the reply, Omar! Haha, don’t worry, there are people who eat banitsa with a fork 😀 It doesn’t have a name actually, it’s croissant-like puff pastry ( I made a mistake, it’s not phyllo dough) filled with cheese. We have three variations, white cheese, yellow cheese and processed cheese, and the spreadable processed cheese tastes like melted fondue/gruyere… I remember Président has this triangle pieces wrapped in foil each, also ERU sells melted spreadable cheese, if you recognize these brands at all. 😀 If not, Google them and you’ll see what I mean 🙂 It’s nothing like Philadelphia, it almost tastes like yellow cheese, it’s a lot thicker than other spreads too. The Bulgarian words in latin are “topeno sirene”- literally melted cheese, and “buterki s topeno sirene”- puff pastry with melted cheese. I hope that helps! 🙂
I would like to add that I admire your way of living, someday I hope I’d be able to travel again, and visit even more places, exploring more cultures. Until then, I’ll just Pin and make all your awesome recipes. I’ve already made your Kibbeh 3-4 times (I mixed white and sweet potatoes, it tastes amazing everytime), the Zaalouk and tomorrow I’ll be making the borek for a second time!