Name: Bourak (Assyrian Egg Rolls)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 lb. ground beef (15% fat); 1 small white onion (minced); 1 tsp salt; ¾ tsp black pepper; 1 tsp curry; 1 tsp allspice; ¼ cup Italian parsley (chopped); 1 package eggroll wrappers; oil for frying

Bourak are referred to as Assyrian or Middle Eastern egg rolls. These delicious spicy appetizers are usually served as "mezze" along with other popular dishes like Sambousek, Lebanese Hummus, and Kotletai.

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Most families have someone with a signature dish. In my family, that someone is my sister, Rosa. The dish she's known for is the focus of this post. Since she works out of the country, we don't get to see each other very often.

Luckily, we were able to plan our trips to Chicago during the same period. I decided to take advantage of this rare occurrence by planning a day of cooking with her.

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🧀 Bourak Varieties
🍽 How to Make This Recipe
👩🏼‍🍳 Pro Tips
🍗 Related Recipes
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

🧀 Bourak Varieties

While trying to decide how to spell the name of this recipe, I found many alternative spellings online. Bourek, borek, and burek, are some examples. For the purposes of this recipe, I'll be referring to them as "Bourak."

I also discovered a lot more nationalities make them than I originally thought. Some of these nationalities include Croatians, Algerians, Turks, Greeks, Arabs, and of course, Assyrians. While my family mainly makes meat-filled bourak, there are some filled with cheese and herbs. There are also both savory and sweet varieties.

The origins of this dish date back to the Ottoman Empire. However, their "borek" was prepared as a phyllo-layered cheese pie, sweetened with honey. Although I plan to write a post for the cheese-filled variety in a future post, today I'm sharing my sister, Rosa's, recipe. Bourak are often served with Lebanese Tabbouleh.

🍽 How to Make This Recipe

Step 1: Brown ground beef in a skillet, breaking up any large clumps. Add minced onion to the pan. Saute until soft.

Step 2: Sprinkle salt, pepper, and remaining spices over the meat. Add parsley and cook for an additional minute. Set aside to cool.

Step 3: When the filling is ready, place one egg roll wrapper in front of you. Add approximately two tablespoons of filling close to the bottom edge of the wrapper.

Step 4. Lift the bottom edge of the egg roll wrapper over the filling. Next, fold the sides of the wrappers over the filling and roll all the way up. Seal the corner with a dab of water, and repeat.

Step 5. Heat oil in a large frying pan to 375 degrees F. Carefully place a few Bourak in the pan. Fry until golden brown, and do the same with the rest.

Step 6. Drain fried Bourak on a paper towel-lined plate. Serve while hot.

👩🏼‍🍳 Pro Tips

Bourak can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge until you are ready to cook them.
Toss the Bourak in cornstarch before refrigerating them to keep them from sticking to each other or to the plate.
To reheat cooked bourak, use a toaster oven or an air fryer. If you use a microwave, they will be soft and soggy instead of crispy, as they are intended to be.

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Hilda Sterner