Seafood Filo Triangles – Turkish Pastry Pockets Filled With Flavours Of The Ocean

Turkish börek (pastries) play an integral role in Turkish cuisine, and, as well as the variety of fillings, there are also different types of pastry and different ways in which that pastry can be cut or shaped.

For this recipe, we’re going to be making seafood filo triangles or, to give them their Turkish name, deniz ürünleri muska böreği.

Muska Böreği – Yufka / Filo Triangles

One of the most traditional fillings for these filo pastry triangles (and lots of other börek shapes) is spinach and cheese but the shape of them lends itself really well to a tasty seafood filling.

A Pastry Amulet

We love to make these for special occasions such as Christmas or when we have friends round for dinner.

One of the meanings for ‘muska’ in muska böreği is ‘amulet’ or ‘charm.’ Nice to have some foodie treats that have a name symbolising good luck.

Although seafood is perhaps not seen as a traditional Turkish börek filling, the plethora of seafood restaurants that have popped up in recent years around Fethiye – and other coastal areas – have done their bit in changing some of that.

There’s always at least one type of seafood börek on offer as part of the meze selection.

Sometimes, these offerings are in the shape of a simit, like this one above that we had in Datça (we love these).

But, generally, they are made into a paçanga shaped filo parcel.

For us, muska böreği – or filo triangles – are also the perfect shape for a seafood mixture. They look the part.

And they also create a good-sized pocket for your ingredients. The filo pastry to seafood filling ratio is just about perfect.

How To Make Seafood Filo Triangles – Deniz Ürünleri Muska Böreği

We first posted our seafood filo pastry triangles recipe way back in 2012 but we’ve tweaked ingredients numerous times since then.

So time for a full update, we think!

Yufka Or Filo (Or Phyllo)

First of all, we’ve called these filo triangles because, if you’re not in Turkey or you haven’t got access to a Turkish store near where you live, you will most likely be using filo pastry for this recipe.

If you’re in Turkey, as we are, you will be using yufka dough. This is the dough used for most Turkish börek recipes and is just slightly thicker than filo pastry.

They both give similar results.

And, if you are in Turkey, visit your local yufkacı (specialist in making yufka) for some fresh yufka.

The fresh pastry is so much more pleasurable to work with than the vacuum-packed supermarket products which dry and crack easily as soon as the packet is opened.

How to Make Your Seafood Filling

If you’re thinking seafood sounds like an expensive filling for your filo triangles, don’t be put off. A little goes a very long way.

And making the börek is actually a great way to get rid of any leftovers you might have.

And we also have a hack / cheat for you – one that we’re quite prone to using.

The base for your seafood filling is a mixture of vegetables – grated carrot and courgette. It’s fresh greens – spring onions and fresh, chopped parsley or dill. It’s seasoning and spice.

And then we have some little cubes of cheese for a little pop of creamy texture and contrast in flavour.

And, as for the seafood, you can use just one type or a mixture; king prawns chopped into small pieces are ideal.

The last time we made these filo triangles, it was Christmas and we had some leftover stuffed calamari from Christmas Eve.

So we chopped that up finely and mixed it with a spoonful of the tomato sauce the calamari had been cooked in.

That gave us an even stronger seafood flavour.

And here’s the little seafood filo triangles hack.

At Christmas, once we’d bought our calamari for Christmas Eve and our meat for Christmas Day and all the other treats that go with Christmas, well, the expense of king prawns just seemed like one step too far.

We don’t know about you but we love crab sticks. Yes, they’re processed.

But they’re so tasty. Great if you’re on a budget. And their seafood flavours are perfect for your filo triangles.

In Turkey, we can also get ‘lobster sticks’ so we used those, last time. Same price and packed with that taste-of-the-sea flavour.

All of that will be gently sauteed just to soften a little. And then the little cheese cubes are added afterwards, once everything is cooled.

How Do You Roll Filo Triangles?

Once you’ve prepared your seafood filling, it’s time to roll your filo pastry triangles – your muska böreği.

This is really easy to do and we’ve made a little grid below to show each step.

In Turkey, yufka is sold in huge circular shapes. We need to cut this circle into long thin strips around 8-10 cms in width.

Once you have your strips and your seafood filling ready, you can start to roll your seafood triangles.

• Lay the strip vertically on a flat surface (1).
• Take one of the bottom corners and fold it to the opposite edge – just to give you an idea of how big your filo triangle is going to be (2).
• Pull the pastry back. Take a heaped teaspoonful of your filling and place it roughly where you will be making your first fold (3).
• Fold the corner over the filling to the opposite side of your strip so that you have a horizontal edge across the pastry strip (4). Brush the rest of the strip of filo or yufka with an egg wash.
• Then fold your covered filling over that horizontal edge so that you now have a diagonal edge (5).
• Fold diagonally over that edge, then alternate between folding of the straight and the diagonal edges until you reach the end of your strip and you have a triangular parcel.

Important Tip: Whether it be yufka dough or filo; whilst you are rolling each triangle, keep your other strips covered to prevent them from drying out. This is where freshly made yufka is very forgiving.

Place each of your filo triangles onto a plate and, if you’re not cooking them immediately, cover and refrigerate.

Deniz Ürünleri Muska Böreği – Seafood Filo Triangles

We often take a börek snack if we’re going for wanders around the Fethiye area. It’s so tasty and really easy to carry.

For the seafood version, however, we like to savour these and keep them for special occasions.

If you’re eating them as a starter, place three or four onto a small plate and enjoy them served hot and crispy.

And that’s how you make seafood filo pastry triangles – deniz ürünleri muska böreği.

Seafood Yufka / Filo Triangles – Afternotes

• Feel free to experiment with different fillings for your yufka or filo triangles. Our seafood filling is similar to one that we have often eaten in seafood restaurants in Turkey.
• Prawns are most commonly used but you can substitute other seafoods.
• Vegetarians and vegans can experiment with vegetable fillings.
• If you are vegan, you can skip on using the egg wash. Just seal your yufka or filo at the end with a bit of water.
• Your filo triangles will keep for 2 -3 days in the fridge and you can also freeze them and cook from frozen.
• When you serve them, serve immediately so that they are still crispy.
• If you like to experiment with various börek (pastries), we have also have other Turkish börek recipes.
• And if you are looking for ideas of other dishes to serve with your börek, here’s our Turkish recipes collection.

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