North African Meat-Filled Pastries

Besteh resemble borekas: thin layers of dough wrapped around a savory filling. However, instead of using an oil-based short or flaky pastry, Moroccan besteh are traditionally made with ouarka, called malsouka in Tunisia. Ouarka means “leaf” in Arabic, and the French call this pastry “feuilles (leaves) de brik.” The pastry is made with a rather springy semolina dough pressed in an overlapping circular pattern onto a hot pan called a