Sarajevo burek is meat only: hand-rolled phyllo around minced meat, onion and pepper, baked in a tray and best eaten hot, ideally with yogurt.

Burek came into Bosnian cooking from Turkish borek; Sarajevo's tourism board quotes the Bosnian Wikipedia, which calls it a specialty taken from Turkish cuisine. In Sarajevo the name is kept for the meat version: the cheese, spinach and potato pies are sirnica, zeljanica and krompirusa, and locals say all pitas are pita but only burek is the real thing. Buregdzinica Sac on Mali Bravadziluk is named after the metal sac lid, and Lonely Planet put Bosnian burek in its 2012 street food book.

Where to eat Burek in Sarajevo

2 editor picks for Burek in Sarajevo, ranked by editorial score. All Sarajevo signature dishes · Burek across every city.

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Make it at home

Serves 41 hr 30 minIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 500g ready-rolled phyllo pastry
  • 500g minced beef (or 50/50 beef and lamb)
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 100ml sunflower oil for brushing
  • 100ml water

Method

  1. Heat oven to 200 C; brush a round baking pan with oil.
  2. Mix the minced beef with chopped onions, salt, pepper and paprika in a bowl.
  3. Lay one phyllo sheet, brush with oil, layer a second on top. Repeat for 4 sheets.
  4. Spread a strip of meat mixture along one long edge of the phyllo and roll into a long tube.
  5. Coil the tube into a spiral in the centre of the pan; repeat with remaining phyllo and filling, coiling around the centre.
  6. Brush the top with oil and a tablespoon of water; bake 35 to 40 minutes until deeply golden.
  7. Brush with another tablespoon of water once out of the oven; rest 10 minutes before slicing.

Editor tip. If you cannot get kajmak to serve with, plain Greek yogurt salted lightly is the standard accompaniment.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy.