Have you ever tried rekakat?
Do you know what rekakat is?
Until last month, I certainly didn’t.
But now I’m officially addicted, and can’t get enough rekakat in my life.
My Introduction to Lebanese Cheese Rolls
Rekakat are Lebanese cheese rolls. I had rekakat for the first time on a date with my husband last month in LA. We tried a new Lebanese restaurant, and as soon as I read what rekakat was on the menu, I knew I’d be ordering it.
Rekakat basically takes the best part of an egg roll—the fried, crispy dough—and puts an even more delicious filling inside. The rekakat I tried in LA consisted of feta, parsley, and onion. But I couldn’t resist switching up the filling in my rekakat recipe, and decided to use a combination of some of my favorite herbs: mint, dill, and cilantro.
Rekakat Cheese Rolls: A Simple Filling
The filling truly is that simple. Mince the herbs and garlic, and add a little bit of olive oil, lime juice, salt, and of course, feta.
If you can find it, I recommend using a fresh block of feta and crumbling it up yourself. Just like grating a block of cheese tastes better than buying a pre-shredded package, crumbling feta yourself is indeed more fresh and delicious than buying a pre-crumbled container.
Traditionally, rekakat is made with filo dough. But I decided to make my rekakat recipe even easier by using wonton wrappers, which are quite a bit sturdier and much easier to work with than filo. And the resulting cheese rolls are just as delicious.
Make These Lebanese Cheese Rolls!
These cheese rolls are a great vegetarian appetizer, or the perfect way to round out a meal. We’ve enjoyed rekakat for dinner a few times this month, served with greens, rice, fried chickpeas, baked tofu, and my tahini sauce.
The hardest part about these cheese rolls is sharing them with your friends and family. Make my rekakat recipe, and you’ll quickly see what I mean.
A Few Things
These cheese rolls are deep fried. Yep, no apologies. Just exhibit a little self-control, and you’ve got nothing to feel guilty about.
In my opinion, a fryer skimmer is an absolute must to keep the frying process clean and simple. My favorite fryer skimmer is this one from Le Creuset, and you can find my second favorite fryer skimmer here in this set on Amazon [aff. link].
My Cheese Roll Folding Method
I like to fold my rekakat basically like a burrito. Below is my step by step process in photos:
Lebanese Cheese Rolls (Rekakat)
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 8 oz fresh feta, crumbled
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp mint, minced
- 1 Tbsp fresh dill, minced
- 1 Tbsp cilantro, minced
- 1 Tbps olive oil
- 1 tsp lime juice
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
Everything else:
- Wonton wrappers, 20 small, or 7-10 large; I prefer making these with the smaller wonton wrappers
- 48 oz canola oil
Instructions
Make the filling
- Crumble the feta into a small mixing bowl. Add the minced mint, dill, cilantro, and garlic. Mix until combined. Now add the salt, garlic powder, olive oil, and lime juice. Mix again until completely incorporated.
- Let the filling sit for five minutes. This gives the flavors a chance to mesh together.
Prepare to fry the rekakat
- While the filling sits, get your wonton wrappers out of the refrigerator.
- Now is also a good time to pour the oil into a large soup pot for frying. But don’t turn the heat on under the pot just yet.
Compile the rekakat
- After the filling sits for five minutes, you can fold the rekakat. Follow my pictures above for a visual guide, but all we’re doing is folding the rekakat like little burritos.
- Place 1-1 ½ tsp of the cheese filling right down the middle of a wonton wrapper. (Use about 2 Tbsp filling for a large wonton wrapper.) Fold the two shorter edges of the wrapper over the filling. Now fold one longer side of the wonton wrapper over the filling, followed by the second longer side.
- Seal the edges of the rekakat with water.
- Repeat with as many wonton wrappers as you have filling for.
Fry the rekakat
- Turn the heat to high under the soup pot with the oil. Let the oil heat until it looks like the oil is separating on top, about 3-4 minutes. Now turn the heat down to medium.
- If using the smaller size of wonton wrappers—which I recommend—place 2-3 rekakat into your fryer skimmer. If using large wonton wrappers, fry 1-2 rekakat at a time.
- Lower the rekakat into the hot oil, and fry for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the rekakat turns slightly golden brown. If the rekakat join together in the pot, gently use your fryer skimmer to push them apart.
- After 30 seconds to 1 minute, use your fryer skimmer to carefully remove the rekakat from the hot oil.
- Place the rekakat on a plate or baking sheet lined with a paper towel to remove excess oil.
- Repeat the frying process with all the rekakat.
Serve and enjoy!
- Serve rekakat with my tahini sauce as an appetizer, or make it a meal with some greens, fried chickpeas, baked tofu, and rice.
- Enjoy!
This Post Has 2 Comments
Those are gorgeous little rolls. I’m sure they’d be perfect for a party. I haven’t been to a Lebanese restaurant in too long!
Thanks Jeff! Oh you have to go soon! I’d be happy eating Lebanese food every day. 😋