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Vegan Börek Cigars with spicy tomato filling.
Börek cigars are one of my favorite snacks, mainly because they are just perfect for grabbing and dipping. They are crispy and crunchy, and you can stuff them with all sorts of delicious fillings. These vegan börek cigars can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, this Turkish classic is always a winner.
In my opinion one of the best filling for börek is this mixture of tomato puree, sunflower seeds and cashews. It’s creamy, sweet and savory, and has just the right amount of spiciness to it. However you can stuff these babies with basically anything you like, spinach, tofu feta, beans, mushrooms or cashew cheese are great options. Then shape them into cigars, rolls, triangles, or just layer it all in a large baking dish. I prefer to keep these börek cigars oil-free, so I use soy milk to brush the dough and bake them in the oven, but if you wanna go with the extra indulgent version, brush the dough with oil or melted vegan butter, and fry the cigars in a pan.
If you try this recipe, let me know! I would highly appreciate if you could leave a comment and rate it. Also don’t forget to take a picture and tag it on Instagram (use the hashtag #greenevi) or post it on Facebook! I love seeing what you come up with! ♥︎
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Vegan Börek Cigars
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 16 pieces 1x
Ingredients
- 2 sheets of round Yufka dough (or phyllo dough)
- 2/3 cup of plant milk
- sesame seeds to decorate
For the filling
- 1/2 cup of cashews (preferably soaked)
- 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
- 1 cup of tomato puree
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup of fresh basil
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 small chili, minced
- 1.5 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tbsp oregano
- 1 tsp smoked paprika powder
- 1 tsp sweet paprika powder
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- salt, pepper
Instructions
- Add filling ingredients to a food processor and blend to combine. I like to keep it a bit coarse, but you can also blend it creamy if you prefer.
- Using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife cut each yufka dough into 8 triangles. Cover with a damp dish towel, so they won’t dry out.
- Place one triangle of yufka dough on a work surface with the longer edge facing you, and brush with milk generously.
- Place 1-2 tablespoons of the filling near the wide end of the triangle, leaving about 2 cm/1inch border on every side. Fold the long sides of the dough slightly over the filling. Roll up tight, and place on a baking tray. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling.
- Brush the cigars with milk, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 180°C/360°F for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy!
Notes
You can freeze the börek cigars, and cook straight from frozen.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Category: Snack
- Cuisine: Vegan
One of my favourite Turkish foods! Crunchy and creamy nutty filling…awesome combo!
Yes, same with me! I can never get bored of börek 😉
It’s a great idea to make more and freeze them. I might give them a try, they do look yummy.
I hope you’ll try these, Anca. I think you’d love them a lot 😉
Thee cigars are looks lovely really. Its always better to freeze to increase self life.. but I want to know, how long we can freeze it? Asking because you have used tomatoes here in the filling.
I’m not sure about the exact time it’s okay to keep them in the freezer, but I’ve kept them for at least 2-3 months in the freezer and they were good 😉
Oh my my it looks delicious and I totally love it.
Thanks, Kimberly!
The filling is incredible. My husband and I will definitely be making this a regular snack! He is from Turkey so finding recipes that he can eat that remind him of his home is always a treat.
When freezing, do we bake them first??
I’m so happy to hear you liked the recipe!
Normally I freeze these before baking, but you can also pre-bake them for a quicker version. 😉
Please sell these on Etsy. Look amazing but no way I am making them myself.
Hahahaha, great idea 😀
BTW I know they look a little intimidating at first, but it’s seriously super simple to roll these 😉
Hi, I would like to make these for a friend’s birthday but he’s allergic to nuts.
Would you recommend replacing the cashews with anything or just leaving them out?
Thanks!
Hi Lydia,
You could use sunflower seeds here for example, if seeds are okay for your friend.
Or the same amount of crumbled tofu, or cooked chickpeas, lentils, or beans would work fine too for extra texture.
But of course you can also just leave them out, if you prefer.
Let me know how you liked the recipe! 🙂
Hi Evi,
Thanks for your reply. I used more sunflower seeds and soaked them and that seemed to work.
I also added sumac, which worked well.
They went down a treat at the party 🙂
Thanks for the feedback, I’m so happy to hear it worked! 🙂
Evi, Two things I gotta tell you — One, I can’t wait to make this using the plant milk instead of olive oil. I never heard about that trick. Two, your blog is wonderful. Okay – three things: The picture of your completed cigars with the bronze fork, seeds on the table, and basil leaves is possibly the most *perfectly composed* food photograph ever created. Art, not just food. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your super sweet comment, Eric, it is probably the best comment I’ve ever gotten on my blog ❤️
I really hope you’ll love the plant milk trick 😉