Cheburek (plural: Chebureki) are deep-fried
turnovers with a filling of ground or minced meat and onions.
A popular street dish, they are made with a single round piece of dough folded over the filling in a crescent shape.
They have become widespread in the former Soviet-aligned countries of
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
in the 20th century.
Chebureki is a national dish of
Crimean Tatar cuisine
The Crimean Tatar cuisine is primarily the cuisine of the Crimean Tatars, who live on the Crimean Peninsula. The traditional cuisine of the Crimean Tatars has similarities with that of Greeks, Italians, Balkan peoples, Nogais, North Caucasians, ...
.
They are popular as a snack and street food throughout the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
,
West Asia
West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...
,
Central Asia
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
,
Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
,
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
,
as well as in
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
and
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
.
Preparation
A cheburek is a half-round-shaped , filled with a very thin layer of
ground beef
Ground beef, hamburger, hamburger meat (North American English), minced beef or beef mince (Commonwealth English; often just generically referred to as ground meat, ''mince'' or ''mincemeat'') is beef that has been finely chopped with a knife or ...
or
lamb which has been seasoned with ground onion and black pepper.
The dough is made of flour, water (usually of a
baker percentage
Baker's percentage is a notation method indicating the proportion of an ingredient relative to the flour used in a recipe when making breads, cakes, muffins, and other baked goods. It is also referred to as baker's math, and may be indicated by a p ...
of ~50%), salt, and oil. It is soft and pliable, but not sticky. It is separated into small balls and each is rolled out with a thin rolling pin. Additional flour is added only as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
The meat fill is layered thinly enough that it will cook fully in the sealed half-moon pocket.
Finally, the whole is fried in oil (usually
sunflower oil
Sunflower oil is the non-volatile oil pressed from the seeds of the sunflower (''Helianthus annuus''). Sunflower oil is commonly used in food as a frying oil, and in cosmetic formulations as an emollient.
Sunflower oil is primarily compos ...
or
corn oil
Corn oil (North American) or maize oil (British) is oil extracted from the germ of corn (maize). Its main use is in cooking, where its high smoke point makes refined corn oil a valuable frying oil. It is also a key ingredient in some margarin ...
) until the dough becomes golden.
Variations
Cheburek is called Çibörek ("börek" means pastry in Turkish language). It is very popular, especially in
Eskişehir
Eskişehir ( , ; from 'old' and 'city') is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 821 315 (Odunpazari + Tebebasi), with a metropolitan population of 921 630.
The city is l ...
.
File:Example of serving Çiğ Börek.jpg, Example of serving Çiğ Börek
File:Burek2.jpg, Chebureki, bit open
See also
*
List of stuffed dishes
This is a list of stuffed dishes, comprising dishes and foods that are prepared with various fillings and stuffings. Some dishes are not actually stuffed; the added ingredients are simply spread atop the base food, as one cannot truly stuff an oys ...
*
Cantiq
Yantiq or yantyk (, , ) is a Crimean Tatar turnover. Unlike a cheburek, a yantiq is grilled without oil, not deep-fried.
See also
* Chebureki
References
{{Reflist
Crimean cuisine
Turkish cuisine
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukrain ...
*
Curry puff
A curry puff (; Jawi: ; ; , , ) is a snack of Southeast Asian origin. It is a small turnover containing a filling of curry, often of chicken and potatoes, in a fried or baked pastry shell. The consistency of the curry is quite thick to prev ...
*
Empanada
An empanada is a type of baked or fried turnover (food), turnover consisting of pastry and stuffing, filling, common in Culture of Spain, Spain, other Southern European countries, North African countries, South Asian countries, Latin American c ...
*
Fleischkuekle, a
Black Sea German variant common to diaspora communities in
The Dakotas
The Dakotas, also known as simply Dakota, is a collective term for the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota. It has been used historically to describe the Dakota Territory, and is still used for the collective heritage, culture, geo ...
*
Gözleme
Gözleme is a savory Turkish cuisine, Turkish stuffed Turnover (food), turnover. The dough is usually unleavened, and made only with flour, salt and water, but gözleme can be made from yeast dough as well. It is similar to bazlama, but is lightl ...
*
Haliva, a similar
Circassian pastry
*
Khuushuur
Khuushuur (Mongolian: хуушуур) is a traditional Mongolian fried meat pastry. It consists of a circle of wheat flour dough folded in half around a filling of minced or ground mutton, sometimes beef, and pan- or deep-fried. The meat is s ...
, a similar kind of meat pastry in
Mongolian cuisine
Mongolian cuisine predominantly consists of dairy products, meat, and animal fats. The most common rural dish is cooked mutton. In the city, steamed dumplings filled with meat—" buuz"— are popular.
The extreme continental climate of Mon ...
*
Lángos
Lángos () is a typical Hungarian food. Nowadays it is a deep fried flatbread, but in the past it was made of the last bits of the bread-dough and baked at the front of a brick or clay oven, to be served hot as the breakfast of the bread-baking d ...
*
Lörtsy, a similar kind of pastry in
Finnish cuisine
Finnish cuisine is notable for generally combining traditional country fare and ''haute cuisine'' with contemporary continental-style cooking. Fish (food), Fish and meat (usually pork, beef or reindeer) play a prominent role in traditional Finl ...
*
Pastel (food)
Pastel is the Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese word for ''pastry'', a sugary food, and is the name given to different typical dishes of various countries where those languages are spoken. In Mexico, pastel typically m ...
*
Pasty
A pasty () or Cornish pasty is a British baked turnover pastry, a variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, but has spread all over the British Isles, and elsewhere through the Cornish diaspora. It consists of a filling, ty ...
*
Paste, a Mexican variation of the Cornish pasty
*
Peremech
*
Plăcintă
''Plăcintă'' () is a Romanian and Moldovan traditional pastry resembling a thin, small round or square-shaped cake, usually filled with apples or a soft cheese such as Urdă.
Etymology
The word ''plăcintă'' comes from the Latin ''Placent ...
*
Qutab, an
Azerbaijani variant
*
Sha phaley
Sha phaley, also known as Shabhalep (ཤ་བག་ལེབ།), is a Tibetan dish of bread stuffed with seasoned meat and cabbage, which is then fashioned into semi-circular or circular shapes and which according to regional variations is eit ...
, a similar Tibetan pastry
Notes
References
{{Street food
Savoury pies
Deep fried foods
Crimean cuisine
Tatar cuisine
Lithuanian cuisine
Ukrainian cuisine
Romanian cuisine
Turkish cuisine
Azerbaijani cuisine
Uzbekistani cuisine
Tajik cuisine
Russian cuisine
Soviet cuisine
Snack foods
Street food
Stuffed dishes
Street food in Russia
Turkish pastries
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine