Chef Ravinder Bhogal has unveiled a trio of straightforward filo‑based dishes that turn ready‑made pastry into crunchy, golden savoury treats. The collection features a rich cheese and spring onion pie, fragrant seeded filo crackers and luxurious saffron‑infused prawn boreks, all designed for home cooks who want maximum flavour with minimal fuss.
Cheese and Spring Onion Pie
This pie brings together four cheeses – feta, ricotta, halloumi and either gruyere or a sharp cheddar – bound with cream, eggs and a herb‑laden spring onion mixture. Preparation takes about fifteen minutes, followed by an hour in the oven at 180°C (160°C fan) and a brief cooling period, yielding six generous servings.
The method begins by combining the crumbled cheeses, cream, eggs, chopped chives, dill, parsley, finely sliced spring onions, lemon zest and a good grating of nutmeg in a large bowl. After seasoning, the mixture is spooned into a buttered, paper‑lined cake tin that has been layered with six sheets of filo, each brushed with melted butter and laid at slight angles to create a rustic base. A final buttered filo sheet is folded over the filling, the overhang is tucked in to form a textured top, and the pie is brushed with remaining butter, scattered with sesame seeds and baked until golden. After fifteen minutes of resting, it is ready to serve.
As Bhogal herself puts it, “I love this gossamer‑thin pastry for its lightness and crunch, not least because it can be used for both sweets and savouries. Once, on a trip to Athens, I learned how to make filo from scratch: it needs to be rolled very, very thin, so, unless you are skilled with a rolling pin, it’s hard and time‑consuming. Luckily there are good ready‑made varieties out there (if you’re using the frozen variety, make sure it’s fully defrosted). And always keep the pastry you are not working with under a damp cloth, because it dries out very quickly and will probably crack.”
Seeded Filo Crackers
For a quick snack that pairs perfectly with dips, Bhogal’s seeded filo crackers require no dough making or rolling. The snack is assembled by layering four sheets of filo, brushing each with olive oil and scattering a fragrant seed mix over the top.
The seed blend combines lightly crushed fennel, caraway and coriander seeds with sesame, nigella, pul biber, onion powder and flaky sea salt. After the filo sheets are stacked and oiled, the mixture is pressed in gently before the stack is cut into strips, triangles or squares. Baked at 180°C (160°C fan) for ten minutes, then left to crisp on the tray, the crackers emerge with an addictive crunch that holds up well to houmous, tzatziki or spicy yoghurt.
Preparation is roughly five minutes, cooking twenty minutes plus cooling, and the batch serves six.
Saffron Prawn Boreks
The final recipe elevates humble prawn rolls with a touch of saffron, giving them a luxurious hue and aroma ideal for party platters. Sixteen small boreks are produced from a filling of sautéed onion, pepper, carrot, green bird’s eye chilli, pul biber, saffron steeped in warm water, raw prawns (half blitzed, half chopped), coriander, lemon zest and juice, all seasoned with salt.
Each filo sheet is brushed with melted butter, cut into four rectangles, filled with a log of the mixture, rolled tightly and placed seam‑side down on a baking tray. After a further brush of butter and a sprinkle of fennel seed and pul biber mix, the boreks bake for fifteen to twenty minutes at 180°C (160°C fan) until golden and crisp. They can be enjoyed hot or at room temperature, accompanied by a glass of something fizzy.
Prep takes fifteen minutes, cooking forty minutes plus cooling, and the recipe yields sixteen bite‑size rolls.
Why it Matters
Bhogal’s recipes demonstrate how high‑quality, ready‑made filo can simplify traditionally labour‑intensive pastry work without sacrificing texture or flavour. By offering clear, step‑by‑step guidance and precise timings, she empowers home cooks to recreate restaurant‑style savoury bites for everyday meals or special gatherings. The emphasis on versatile ingredients – from a medley of cheeses to aromatic seeds and saffron – also encourages experimentation, helping to keep the art of filo cooking accessible and exciting for a new generation of food enthusiasts.
