Appetizer spinach and cheese filo cigars

Saturday the very first episode of MasterChef India season 5 was telecast. I was so happy to see myself on TV. as one of the top 30 contestants.

The sweetest thing that happened in addition to watching myself on Master chef  was; Pranav came home for a day though he was travelling, took a special flight just to watch Master Chef with me and kids sitting in our living room. Sunday night he flew back for work.

The awesome judges and wonderful location where the shooting was going on; was a different world all together. We all contestants were dressed and dolled up, we had hair dada, make up dada, dress dada, and even touch up dada before every scene — this is called HEROINE TYPE TREATMENT.

Appetizer spinach and cheese filo cigars

For the munching, while watching the show, I had prepared these Spinach cheese cigars. And we all sat in front of the t.v. at 8p.m. along with ice-cream, spinach cheese cigars and some sandwiches.  I had prepared stuffed and rolled the Filo cigars in the morning and had kept them in the fridge, just before serving – I baked them. It saved me lot of time.

Appetizer spinach and cheese filo cigars

To make these cigars you will need filo pastry and the stuffing.

You can either buy filo or can make it home – check this link. Buying will save so much effort and time. If you are in Mumbai Filo is available in Food Hall.  

To make the filo sheets home check out the link 

Few points to read before you start with this appetizer recipe:

You can opt for cheddar, feta or cottage cheese along with spinach as stuffing of cigars. Ideal would be mix them, or as I always say- whatever is available in your kitchen cabinet.

Remove as much of the liquid as possible by squeezing the spinach with your hands or use a ricer to expel all of the water. I used a muslin cloth and squeezed out most of the water. 

Roll the cigars thin, keep the stuffing very less. Also cigars should be rolled tighter for a more delicate appetizer look. Or there will be someone referring your gorgeous filo spinach cheese cigars —- Spring roll —— daaaaaaa

Appetizer spinach and cheese filo cigars

Filo sheets dry out very quickly and then they lose their texture. So keep the rest of the batch covered with slightly damp cloth. At the same time be careful that the cloth is not very wet, because that will make the filo stick to each other. Hell amount of work …….

Be gentle when brushing the filo sheets with melted butter as they can tear easily.

Many recipes will recommend to fry these cigars, but honestly baking works absolutely fantastic.  

You can flavour the cheese with herbs or spices of your choice. Cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, ground cumin, chilli flakes or Basil.

As a sauce to go along the cigars – I made tomato chutney. Very easy pezy to make—chopped tomatoes along with some vinegar, sugar and salt. Or You can look for sauce of your choice in these links given below.

HOMEMADE SUBWAY SAUCES

5 QUICK DIPPING SAUCES

Appetizer spinach and cheese filo cigars

• Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients 

For the spinach cheese stuffing –

1 bunch spinach, about 3 cups (Can substitute 1 cup packed frozen spinach)

½ cup cottage cheese

1/4^th cup of cheddar cheese grated 

1 Teaspoon ground sumac

 Salt to taste

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8^th teaspoon of ground nutmeg

50 gm of unsalted butter, melted

5 sheets phyllo dough (9”x 14”) + extra in case of breakage

Method

Blanch Spinach and make sure you don’t lose the fresh green colour. Squeeze with all the strength you have in arms. A little workout on arm muscles here; let see  hahaha

Coarsely chop spinach and place into a bowl. Crumble the fresh cottage cheese into the bowl and add the sumac, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix well using a fork to break up the spinach.  

 To roll cigars: Melt the butter. Take a sheet of filo and lay it on the work surface Make sure that you keep the rest of the filo covered by plastic wrap and a damp towel until ready to use.

Cut each sheet of filo pastry into 4 rectangles preferably even in size and brush each rectangle lightly with the melted butter.

Spread one tablespoon of cheese spinach filling, as evenly as possible, across the length of each piece of pastry, keeping a 2cm in border. Fold the two short sides of the pastry over the filling to seal the filling. Roll up the pastry along the length, to fully enclose the filling.

Here is a picture to explain

Repeat with the remaining rectangles of filo pastry same ways. Place the rolls on the lined baking tray and brush them with a little more melted butter, then bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the pastry is a pale golden brown.

Remove the rolls from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm with the sauce of your choice. Enjoy !

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