Tonia Buxton

Bougasta

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Preparation info

  • Makes:

    15–18 pies

    • Difficulty

      Medium

Appears in

The Real Greek

The Real Greek

By Tonia Buxton

Published 2016

  • About

A traditional dessert from Northern Greece, these crisp pastry pies are filled with a rose-scented semolina paste. They are lovely eaten warm with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

  • 75 g fine semolina
  • 100 g caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp. rosewater
  • ¼ tsp. ground mastic
  • 3 sheets of puff pastry
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 50 g icing sugar or ground cinnamon for dusting
  • Vegetable oil, for deep frying
  • Vanilla ice cream, to serve

Method

  • Pour 500 ml water into a saucepan and bring to a steady boil. Pour in the semolina, sugar, rosewater and mastic, stirring well.
  • Reduce the heat to simmer for 5 minutes or until the semolina mixture has thickened. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and leave to cool.
  • Cut each pastry sheet in half and then cut each half into 3 rectangles.
  • Lightly flour a clean work surface. Roll out a rectangle, place a heaped teaspoon of the semolina mixture in the middle, but slightly off centre. Brush the pastry edges with egg then fold over and seal the edges together using a fork.
  • Repeat with the remaining pastry to make up all the pies. Meanwhile, pour enough oil into a heavy-based deep-lidded pan to fill to one-third. Slowly heat the oil to the correct frying temperature.
  • Deep-fry the pastries in batches, until golden and crisp. Drain on absorbent kitchen towels. Serve immediately, dusted with icing sugar and ground cinnamon, and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.