Crispy Chicken Talaş Böreği Recipe

While taking photos of the böreks, there happened to be tea ready, so I placed a cup beside them. But to be honest, ayran is what truly complements these. Of course, personal preferences can vary greatly, but I believe ayran is an excellent companion to dishes with tomato paste or fresh tomatoes. Take, for example, the combination of tomato paste sauce and garlicky yogurt on mantı—use that as a reference when making this assessment. Not a fan of mantı? Then think of the yogurt served alongside Iskender kebab, drenched in butter and tomato paste sauce. I don’t know if it’s because ayran balances the sharpness of the tomato paste or simply because they just happen to taste great together with no scientific basis—but that’s just how it is.

What Goes Well with Chicken Talaş Böreği?

If you ask me, prepare a smooth soup like tarhana or strained lentil soup for dinner. Serve it with this börek. Whisk up some ayran on the side. This menu will give you more joy than some of the most lavishly advertised tables ever could. By the way, you can use the same menu with minced meat Talaş Böreği instead. Don’t say, “We don’t eat chicken, should we go hungry?”—I’ve got a solution for everyone.

Can Chicken Talaş Böreği Be Prepared in Advance?

If you’ve ever made a börek with puff pastry, you surely know that once baked, puff pastry doesn’t hold up well—it loses its crispiness by the next day. In short, if you prepare the whole börek a day in advance, it won’t be as enjoyable to eat. At best, it can be baked in the morning and eaten in the evening. In my opinion, the best way is to bake it and eat it right away. But don’t worry, I’ll offer a little trick anyway. I wouldn’t recommend baking the börek in advance, but there’s no reason not to prepare the filling ahead of time. You can make it a day—or even a few days—in advance and store it in the fridge. That way, when it’s time to make the börek, all you have to do is thaw and roll out the dough, then wrap and bake.

How to Thaw Puff Pastry?

I wasn't aware of it until I moved to Spain, but puff pastry is sold differently in different countries. In Turkiye, it's always sold frozen while i't sold in the fridge in Spain. Many people are almost obsessively sensitive about thawing frozen foods. If something isn’t thawed in the fridge, they act as if a giant meteor will crash into Earth and wipe us all out. But when it comes to puff pastry, they just plop it right on the counter straight from the freezer. I won’t lie—I used to do the same until a few years ago. That’s how we saw it done, that’s how we learned. Then I started questioning it myself and realized I shouldn’t be doing that. Why is proper thawing of frozen foods so important in the first place? Let’s recall: when frozen foods are kept at a stable temperature for a long period (the duration depends on the food’s content), they become susceptible to bacterial growth. Improper thawing can lead to food poisoning. If that’s true for other foods, why should puff pastry be any different?

There’s also a practical downside to thawing puff pastry at room temperature. Like all foods, it thaws from the outside in. Because of the higher temperature, the outer layers become completely soft while the center often remains frozen. But what you actually want is for it to soften slightly—not fully thaw. When it’s fully thawed, the layers stick together, and the desired rise and crispiness don’t occur. I found the best solution is to thaw puff pastry in the fridge, not at room temperature.

Enjoy the recipe...

Bon Appetit...