Lamb, harrisa and pine nut spiral borek

Step 1

To make the harissa, place olive oil in saucepan over medium-low heat, add onion and garlic and saute for 4 minutes, add chilli, smoked paprika and coriander seed and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add peppers, sugar and 1/3 cup of water and simmer for 10 minutes or until liquid has reduced. Stir occasionally so that mixture doesn’t get caught on the bottom of the pan. Remove from pan and place in food processor and blitz until a paste forms. Set aside and allow to cool.

Step 2

Preheat fan forced oven to 180C or a conventional oven to 200C.

Step 3

Place lamb mince, garlic, all spice, currants, pine nuts, cous cous, parsley, cumin and seasoning in a bowl and mix well with hands to combine. When harrissa is cool enough to handle, add half of it to the lamb mixture and mix well with your hands to develop protein so that meat becomes sticky and doesn't break apart easily.

Step 4

Prepare a round Pyrex baking dish by brushing liberally with 25g of melted butter or spraying with oil.

Step 5

Lightly whisk together egg, milk and remaining melted butter

Step 6

On a clean work surface, using one sheet of filo at a time, lightly brush with egg mixture, top with filo sheet and repeat process with 3 more filo sheets.

Step 7

For the top layer, brush filo with egg mixture then using roughly 1/3 of the lamb mixture, make a long, thin sausage shape about 10cms up from the bottom of the filo sheet. Wrap the bottom of the filo sheet over the meat and roll the filo into a long sausage sealing the edges with more egg mixture. Place sausage around the outside edge of the baking dish. Repeat this process two more times and continue filling the baking dish to create a tight spiral shape. The final sausage may have to be trimmed down to fit into the baking dish.

Step 8

Brush borek with egg wash. Sprinkle with poppy and white sesame seeds. Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and serve warm.