The Cheburek
In Russia you often can see small kiosks selling hot food. For many years of Soviet rain it was not hotdogs or hamburgers. Such western dishes stayed unknown to Russian people. Instead they were eating the dishes that even can’t be translated but should be named with their original Russian names, such as “Chebureks” “Belyash” or “Hichin”.
Mostly those were fried small patties with various feelings and were adored by almost any Russian. They didn’t know the term “vegetarian” at that times in Russia too, and nobody cared.
Though there were many urban legends that it’s a good chance to buy a cheburek made of stray dogs or cats, pigeons or even rats. You could say “those rumours were spread by the competitors”, but there were no any, in Soviet times. People often told that even many of the famous Russian fur hats were made of the fur of poor stray animals.
Anyways, here is the story of one Cheburek, how it is usually cooked by one of the modern famous Russian cooks.
via stalic
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Yeehaa FIRST.
Love that bread.
First, There is something similar from China it looks the same but it’s mostly vegetarian with eggs and napa for fill ins.
I’ll take my first back but still it’s not bad to be second.
This Chinese thing is solely vegetarian. It’s called “Gao lee tsai dan’”, looks like a pancake and is filled with some sort of cabbage and egg.
Pierogi/piroshki, whatever. Every country seems to have their own kind of dumpling/ravioli/pirogi/whatever.
The chef needs to cut his nails and clean his hands … food looked good until I saw his fingers… nasty.
You don’t understand. That’s where flavor comes from. But I wouldn’t eat one of those, anyways.
I like burrito.
Yeah chebureks are delicious, haven’t seen em around lately though.
I think I am going to puke.
Why?
Food!!!
Recipe link?
Its originally called “burek” and the recipe came with mongols who conquered Russia.
The “bureks” version “cheburek” comes from Tatar. Cheburek is the Russian pronunciation of the Crimean Tatar “çibörek”, which means “delicious burek”.
It is one of the national dishes of Crimean Tatars and widely spread in ex-USSR countries.
Check from Wikipedia…
Dude, mongols didn`t conquered Russia.
Don`t believe to anything what is Wikipedia reading in.
yes they did, i remember school classes about the tatarian-mongolian tyranny and how russia got rid of the invaders after a long struggle.
So… Che Guevara would be “delicious Guevara”? Wonder how they would know.
Was soviet rain worse than british rain?
This reminds me of ours “lievance” or something similiar. Mainly the last step making the half-circle shape filled with jam inhere.
In Spain that is called “Empañadilla” and usually it haves Tuna and tomato sauce inside, or jam and chese.
Empanadilla, not Empañadilla.
May be filled with Tuna and tomato, jam, morcilla (cooked pig blood with spices), onion, spinach, whatever you want.
In Brazil it’s called “pastel”, and it’s made with chicken, meat, tuna or cheese…
In Portugal it’s called Pastel de Carne (meat pastry) and it’s filled with grinded meat.
Btw, my father’s side grand uncle (by marriage) was russian/ukrainian, so my mother used to cook russian chopsticks (ruskii koteleta) which are way better than hamburgers
btw, as a final touch, we use a fork to crimp it around the edge.
Look a lot like samosas
Samsa - Russian equivalent of samosa
Heh. Deep-fried, no less. And not a touch of fresh vegetables. And those people bitch about hamburgers being unhealthy…
I loved belyash. When I was in Russia, I couldn’t stop eating these. Everytime I passed a belyash stand I had to force myself not to stop and try another one :o)
Almost all of that stuff is not even Russian (except maybe for some types of pirozhki) - all that “chebureki”, “belyashi”, “samsa” etc. are of Caucasian or Middle Asian (e.g. Usbekistan) origin.
This is a very interesting point, the only thing that really united different peoples in the otherwise slightely xenophobic and rassistic Soviet Union was the cuisine. Russians hated “rich” Armenians, “horny” Georgians, hot-tempered Azerbaijanis, “silly” Usbekis, “greedy” Ukrainians etc., but they adored all that tasty stuff from their cuisines. And all the non-Russians hated the “alcoholic” Russians and adored vodka :)))
these are not russian dishes at all, technically speaking.
hichin is from south of russia, north caucasus
and one more question?why is it bad that the “western” food was unknown to russians? i would take hichin and cheburek any day over a hot dog or hamburger
who says it’s bad?
it’s just an explanation for all those who may think the whole world eats at McDonald’s :))
As I commented below, at least burgers are not deep fried in carcinogenic grease. Now, hot dogs is a different story.
No, but they are full of dangerous chemicals (steroids, etc.) just to inflate the meat weight - at least in the US (they’re forbidden in the EU).
And, if true, that is different from the Russian meats… how?
…incidentally, it is not true. That’s what FDA and USDA are for.
The EU pays the US (because of WTO) for forbiding the import of steroids grown meat, so yeah, it is true.
Oil/grease is carcinogenic when overheated/burnt - quality frying oils (monounsaturated) withstand higher temperatures better before degrading.
This also helps:
http://www.tefal.com/All+Products/Cooking+appliances/Fryers/Products/ActiFry/Actifry.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBaURWboAE4
This is common here (Brazil), every Sunday I eat this food, called “pastel”… Look at it http://images.google.com.br/images?q=pastel%20de%20feira&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:pt-BR:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=pt-BR&tab=wi
wtf russians eat dogs cats, pigeons & rats they are savages
Here in Brazil we have something that looks very much like this russian food. Here it´s called PASTEL and is mostly filled with ground beef or cheese.
Dae Tito Bras!
Tecla de onde?
Also, can be filled with bananas, hearth of palm (Palmito), Shrimp, Cod or anything that can be deep fried inside of its thin crisp kind of bread
abraço!
we have that too in the philippines. it’s called empanada. the filling is ground meat (usually pork) with raisins, diced potatoes, or green peas.
lol at the out of order pictures, you see him add the meat to the dough then the next he’s sifting the flour
Here in Argentina we call that “Empanada frita” http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empanada
Cheburekis are great!!!
Anyone that wants to try one, stop by Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, NY. Great Russian and Ukrainian food porn area.
Local version is filled with smoked pork or bacon, the dough is made using boiled and mashed potatoes (its taste is similar to Italian ghocchi). Served with raw or stewed sauerkraut.
I was looking that so long :). I ate chebureki in Ukr and in Ru. In poland is unknown dish. If someone could help me , please send me the recipe of the cheburek
I’ll be grateful
ankh82@o2.pl
Where is my comment? Once again, people who eat those things (together with cook’s fingernail dirt) deep fried in carcinogenic animal grease (and not a whiff of fresh lettuce of tomato about ‘em) should not be saying how unhealthy hamburgers are.
Go to hell, carcinogen
Hehe, impostors are funny.
Please double check your articles with somebody who knows English, I can understand what you write, but there’s little to do to greatly improve your text.
Yeah Paula, specially those greek barbecues, or any kind of barbecue made in the streets… but i use to eat it anyways….=P
Well, in Brazil it’s called pastel. And also here there’s this story about the meat.
Fleischkuechle
“various feelings” Did you mention various flavours?
BTW I’ve eaten that in Ukraine a few years ago, and I liked it.
Although this chef guy looks like a weirdo.
Gosh I love miss india..
I miss her!
well, in Brazil we call it Pastel.. and where I was born (southern Brazil) pierogi is well known..
but Pastel is part of everyday life for everyone!
Very illustrative article.
Chebureks remind me of mexican “pastes” :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paste_(food)
Ou est le водка??????
же сы тырсти!
damn… i used to love those things…. going out to the kiosk today to buy one
sometimes it pays off to be occupied by russia for some time 
Viva-la-Estonia 
The Germans-Russians that moved to the US (volga deutsche) brought the Cheburek with them. It is called Fleuschekuekle, and is delicious. I haven’t had one in years. If you go to Bismarck, North Dakota, you can still order them.
I suspect that eating more than 2 a day will destroy your arteries.
Falshe now….
This is not Russian. This cook-Uzbek city of Ferghana (Uzbekistan), and his name is Hairat-Aka
Source of photos is here. (livejournal.com)
http://community.livejournal.com/stalic_kitchen/314906.html
This isn’t a russian food!The original name of this food is “Çibörek”.”Börek” means baked and filled foods.And this word is completely Turkish.You can eat this in ukraine and russia beacuse this food belongs to Crimea.Crimea is a autonomous and tataric Land in Ukraine.who can rusian speak,can look at this link of wikipedia.
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A7%D0%B5%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BA
And the man with guitar on last foto is the famous Guitar Virtuoso of Crimea Enver İzmayilov.
Please don’t steal our culture.If you want to eat a real ÇİBÖREK, you must go to Crimea.
Tatar Boregi (Cig Borek)
Ingredients
For the pastry: 1/2 kg flour 1 small cube of fresh yeast 1 tsp salt
For the filling: 1/2 kg minced meat 3 onions 1 tsp salt
Directions
Mix the minced meat, chopped onion, salt and black pepper together. Make a soft dough with the flour, yeast, salt and sufficient water. Divide the dough into pieces the size of tangerines. Roll these out into circles the size of tea plates and spread some of the minced meat mixture onto one half, leaving a margin around the edge. Fold over and press down the edges well. Cook in a hot nonstick pan or on a griddle. Spread butter on both sides and serve hot.
http://images.google.com.tr/images?hl=tr&source=hp&q=%C3%A7i%C4%9F+b%C3%B6rek&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=RMeeSsyyCoqW_QaMp7n1Cw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4
word means almost Turkish…We say ”ÇİĞBÖREK” .Its so famous in my city…(Eskişehir)…And so many tatar people live here…And they make it already…
Ingredients
ÇİĞ BÖREK (ESKİŞEHİR)
MALZEME:
Un 4 su bardağı
Soğan 1 adet
Yoğurt 1 çorba kaşığı
Yağsız kıyma 125 gr.
Su 1 su bardağı
Ay çiçek yağı 1 su bardağı
Karabiber
YAPILIŞI:
Soğanı rendeleyin. Bir kapta kıyma, soğan, tuz ve biberi karıştırarak harcı hazırlayın. Unu eleyin. Yoğurdu, tuzu ve suyu katıp, yoğurarak bir hamur hazırlayın. Hazırladığınız hamuru ceviz büyüklüğünde 30 eşit parçaya bölüp, yuvarlayarak topak haline getirin. Her birini unlanmış tezgahta merdane ile 15 cm. çapında açın. Açtığınız hamurların ortalarına harcı paylaştırın. Yarımay biçiminde kapatıp uçlarını ister kenarlarına bastırarak, ister bir hamur keseceği ile keserek sıkıca birleştirin. Ay çiçek yağını tavada kızdırın. Hazırladığınız börekleri tavaya yerleştirip, her iki yanı da altın sarısı renk alıncaya kadar kızartın. Süzdürerek yağdan alıp, üzerine havlu kağıt serilmiş bir tabağa çıkarın. Bütün börekleri bu şekilde kızartıp, bir tabağa aktararak servis yapın.
We have basically the same thing in the UK as well, they’re called Bridies in Scotland, Pasties down south.
Usually filled with minced beef and onion or cheese and onion.
Main difference is they’re baked over here. (which is odd because Scots will deep fry anything).