Catherine Velisha may not have inherited the pie-making skills of her Turkish-Cypriot nana, Sherifee, but that hasn't stopped her from recreating one from her repertoire: a borek, which Sherifee learned from her Albanian husband, Abas Velisha.
"My grandfather, Abas Velisha, and his two brothers, Mendu and Uncle Jim, migrated from Albania to Australia by boat in the 1930s, and together they started a dairy farm in Werribee, south Victoria," Catherine tells SBS Food.
“This changed when World War II began to rage as the need for vegetables grew, so they switched to horticulture and cultivated vegetables for the Australian army training facility and base in Puckapunyal, in central Victoria."
At 17 years of age, Sherifee arrived by boat with her two female cousins from Cyprus to Melbourne where she met Abas. When Sherifee and Abas tied the knot, Sherifee nominated herself as the family chef, even though she didn't know how to cook, mostly to avoid fieldwork.
"That's when Granddad began to teach Nana how to make traditional Albanian dishes, which he himself had learned from his own mother. And gradually, the family favourite became borek, a traditional Albanian pie-like dish," says Catherine.
That's when granddad began to teach nana how to make traditional Albanian dishes, he himself had learned from his own mother. And gradually, the family favourite became borek, a traditional Albanian pie-like dish.
Borek usually takes considerable time to make from scratch, given it's made with multiple layers of handmade pastry and each sheet is slathered with plenty of butter.
"Nana would clear the kitchen and get to work for a whole day, making the dough on the flour-covered kitchen table, so she could roll out the pastry and make it thin enough that it wouldn't break, as that was the real skill when it came to the pie," says Catherine.
"One of Nana's biggest challenges was actually letting us help. I think she knew, and rightly so, that we weren't delicate enough to not break the pastry, therefore I would normally just watch very closely and try to help with offcuts of dough."
Sherifee would bake the pie about once a month, but she also made it for Bayrami, the Turkish 'Feast of the Sacrifice', birthdays and engagement parties. She would also prepare extra pies and pass them on to family members to deep freeze and enjoy later.
Catherine Velisha as a child. Source: Catherine Velisha
The family's preferred pie filling was the Albanian lamb, capsicum and tomato combination. Sherifee's other fillings included eggs or chicken with spinach and cheese.
While Sherifee passed on the art of making traditional borek to her daughter, Catherine's aunty Sally (who still makes it for special events and family occasions), Catherine has been able to recreate a similar one with a modern twist.
This modern version of borek is a great way to recreate old family recipes when your time poor.
"One day I was craving borek, but I knew I couldn't make the traditional pie, so instead, I started experimenting with the original recipe with the aim to make a version that was less time-consuming to prepare, but still retained the experience of eating a deeply flavoursome pie," she says.
She switched out the homemade pastry for the packaged kind and created a filling of pumpkin and feta cheese.
"This is very much a cheat's version of borek, but one that you can make from scratch and enjoy more often, using any vegetable filling of your choice, such as capsicum, tomato and onion, or halloumi with spinach."
Catherine suggests brushing plenty of butter onto the pastry and being generous with the salt. "These are the two things my nana always said you can never use enough of to make the pie taste delicious."
Serve the pie with a Greek Mediterranean salad rich in olive oil, vinegar and salt or with chutney.
"This modern version of borek is a great way to recreate old family recipes when your time is poor. I feel it's important to keep food traditions going somehow and pass on the flavours to the next generation, and this is my way of making sure that happens."
Pumpkin and feta borek
Makes 4
Ingredients
- 400 g pumpkin
- 4 sheets puff pastry
- 200 g feta
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp pepita, to taste
- 1 tbsp cumin,
- 1 tbsp paprika
- Splash olive oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
- Cut the pumpkin into cubes, then place them on a lined baking tray and coat them with cumin, paprika, salt and olive oil. Toss together so everything is evenly coated.
- Put the pumpkin into a 180℃ oven and roast until golden and tender.
- Let the pumpkin cool. With a spatula, mash half of the pumpkin. Put the pumpkin mash and cubes into a mixing bowl.
- Crumble the feta into the pumpkin, season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Lay out the defrosted puff pastry. Scoop some pumpkin feta mixture and lay it along one side of a pastry sheet.
- Eggwash the inside of the pastry and then roll it up.
- Place this on a lined baking tray. Cut the roll into two to four pieces.
- Repeat steps 5-7 for the remaining pastry sheets.
- Eggwash the top of the rolls and top with sesame seeds.
- Place into the oven and cook until the pastry is golden brown and flaky.
- Serve with your favourite chutney or salad.
