Bourekakai

Ingredients

• 1.250 gram feta cheese, crumbled; 1 cup
• 2.250 gram cream cheese or ricotta, 1 cup
• 3.50 millilitre emmental cheese, grated; 4 tablespoons
• 4.salt and pepper, to taste
• 5.nutmeg, a pinch
• 6.Maggi Fondor, a pinch
• 7.3 millilitre dry mustard powder, approximately ½ teaspoon
• 8.Tabasco sauce, a dash
• 9.6 spring onions, chopped
• 10.eggs, 1 egg if using cream cheese; 2 if using ricotta
• 11.16 phyllo pastry, cut into strips 20cm × 5cm (8" × 2")
• 12.butter or margarine, melted; for brushing

Method

1. 1.Mix all the cheeses together. Mix in all the seasonings and the spring onion. If using cream cheese, start with only 1 egg. The texture of the filling should not be too runny. If using ricotta cheese, you can add both eggs immediately. Taste and adjust seasoning.
2. 2.Cut the phyllo leaves into strips, 20cm × 5cm (8" × 2"). Lay down one strip, brush with melted butter. Top with a second strip, brush with melted butter.
3. 3.Place a teaspoon of the cheese mixture on a corner of the strip and fold the corner over to cover the cheese and make a triangle. Continue to fold — keep the triangle shape all the way down the strip. Should look like a small samosa. Brush lightly with butter.
4. 4.Repeat with all remaining strips. Chill the pastries on a buttered cookie sheet for 20 minutes.
5. 5.Bake in a 180°C (350°F) oven for 15–20 minutes. Serve warm.

Notes

• Card note: 'The pastries look pretty topped with sesame seed. They freeze well unbaked. Bake frozen.'
• Card note: 'PHYLLO NOT BEING USED MUST BE COVERED AT ALL TIMES WITH WAXED PAPER AND A LIGHTLY DAMPENED TOWEL.'
• Bourekakai (or boureka) are traditional Sephardic Jewish pastries. The name is the diminutive plural of 'boureka'.