🎃 Samian Sweet Pumpkin Bourekia with Souma

🥧 Sweet and savoury in the same Samian bite

Samian sweet pumpkin bourekia are one of those traditional recipes that sit beautifully between sweet and savoury.

Sweet pumpkin is combined with onion, fragrant mint and brown sugar, while the handmade dough gets a distinctive character from a small amount of souma, a traditional spirit found on the islands of the eastern Aegean.

The bourekia are rolled into their characteristic spiral shape and baked until golden and crisp on the outside, while the pumpkin filling remains soft and aromatic.

👨‍🍳 Method

1. Prepare the dough

Place the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

Add the olive oil and work it into the flour with your hands until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add the souma, sugar, salt and gradually the water, kneading until you have a soft and pliable dough.

Add a little more water if necessary.

Cover the dough and leave it to rest.

2. Roast the pumpkin

Cut the sweet pumpkin into small cubes and spread them on a baking tray.

Season lightly with salt and roast at 180°C for about 1 hour, until very soft and most of the moisture has evaporated.

Drain if necessary and lightly mash the pumpkin with a fork.

3. Prepare the filling

Heat a little olive oil in a pan and sauté the finely chopped onions until soft.

Add the roasted pumpkin, brown sugar and freshly ground pepper.

Add the finely chopped mint and mix until the filling is evenly combined.

Leave it to cool slightly before filling the pastries.

4. Roll out the dough

Roll the dough into a thin sheet and cut it into long strips approximately 6 cm wide and 20 cm long.

Spread about one generous spoonful of filling along each strip.

5. Shape into spirals

Roll each strip around the filling and then coil it into a small spiral.

Place the bourekia on a lightly oiled baking tray, leaving a little space between them.

6. Bake

Brush the surface lightly with olive oil.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 25–30 minutes, until beautifully golden.

🍽️ Serving

The bourekia are delicious warm or lukewarm, when the dough is still crisp and the pumpkin filling remains soft and aromatic.

They can be served plain or with a little crumbled feta on top, which enhances the contrast between the sweet pumpkin and the salty cheese.

The souma in the dough, the mint and the sweet pumpkin give these small spiral pastries a flavour that is quite different from an ordinary pumpkin pie.