{"id":164435,"title":"Air Fryer Brik","modified":"2026-08-24T12:23:29+02:00","plain":"Crisp triangles of brik pastry filled with spiced beef, golden in the air fryer with just a light brushing of oil.\n\n\n\nThe timer rings, the basket opens, and the pastry is already crackling before you even lift out the first triangle. The filling is piping hot, the beef still juicy beneath the spices, while the coriander and raw onion bring a burst of freshness at the last moment. These briks evoke the fryers of Tunisian markets, the bubbling oil, and the smell that lingers in the kitchen for days. But a little oil and a blast of hot air are enough to recreate that same shattering crispness.\n\n\n\nSame fold, different filling: air fryer samosas\n\n\n\nWhat Is Brik?\n\n\n\nBrik is a Tunisian pastry parcel made from a paper-thin sheet called malsouka, folded around a filling and then fried. The signature version is brik \u00e0 l’\u0153uf, folded into a half-moon with tuna, capers, and a whole egg, eaten with your head tilted so you don’t lose the yolk. Here, the filling is spiced ground beef, easier to fold into triangles and eat on the go, with a wedge of lemon and harissa yogurt. The wrapper cooks in minutes and turns almost translucent, making it a little like spring rolls, only finer and more brittle.\n\n\n\nThe name comes from the Turkish b\u00f6rek, the broad family of filled pastries made with thin dough. In Tunisia, it is written brik or brick, and the wrapper is called malsouka, after the gesture used to spread it into an ultrathin layer on a hot griddle.\n\n\n\nWant something fresh instead of crispy? spring rolls hit the spot\n\n\n\nFrom Istanbul to the Markets of Tunis\n\n\n\nOttoman b\u00f6rek traveled with the empire and took root in Tunisia from the 16th century onward. The local dough became even thinner than Turkish pastry, almost veil-like, and malsouka vendors set up in the markets, where people still buy the fresh sheets stacked high.\n\n\n\nBrik \u00e0 l’\u0153uf became the national standard, served as a starter and especially during Ramadan, right after chorba. Fillings of ground meat, potato, and cheese followed, varying by family and region.\n\n\n\nTunisian migration brought brik to Marseille and Paris, where the sheets are now sold in the chilled section of almost any supermarket. Many cooks prepare the filling ahead of time and freeze it, then add the egg at the last moment so it stays runny.\n\n\n\nThe Main Ingredients in Brik\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChoose ground beef with about 20% fat: it keeps the filling juicy as the hot air circulates around the triangles. The meat cooks with a little water, which helps tenderize it and prevents it from drying out. Fresh coriander, finely chopped onion, lemon juice, and minced red chili are stirred in off the heat, once the filling has cooled slightly, so they keep their bite.\n\n\n\nThe spices do the rest: ginger paste and garlic paste, garam masala, cayenne, and a pinch of turmeric. Give them a minute in the hot pan to bloom, as you would in beef with cumin. Season generously; brik pastry brings very little flavor of its own.\n\n\n\nThen there’s the wrapper. True brik pastry, cut lengthwise into strips, is still the best choice for that glassy, brittle finish. Filo works too, but it is more delicate and less tidy-looking, so you will need to double it up. Rice paper wrappers, by contrast, do not work well in the air fryer.\n\n\n\nFor more crunch, try homemade nems\n\n\n\nAuthentic Touches and Pitfalls to Avoid\n\n\n\nA purist’s brik comes out of a bath of very hot oil, with the mottled, blistered crust that an air fryer can’t quite reproduce: you lose those irregular bubbles, but you gain clean cooking at 180 \u00b0C with just a teaspoon of oil in total. The three classic mistakes are using filling that is still hot, which sogs the wrapper before cooking even starts; packing or stacking the triangles too tightly in the basket, which leaves soft spots; and overfilling them, which makes the seams split. Turn them halfway through for even color, and if you’re cooking other things at the same time, keep our air fryer cooking chart handy. Uncooked briks freeze very well laid flat and can be cooked straight from frozen with 1 to 2 extra minutes.\n\n\n\nHave ground beef left over? Make beef with cumin\n\n\n\n\n\n\tAir Fryer Briks\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\tFilling450 g ground beef (preferably 80% lean)230 ml water1.5 teaspoons ginger paste1.5 teaspoons garlic paste1 teaspoon salt0.5 teaspoon cayenne pepper0.5 teaspoon red pepper flakes0.5 teaspoon garam masala0.25 teaspoon turmeric2 small onions (finely chopped)0.5 bunch fresh cilantro (chopped)1 fresh red chili pepper (seeded and thinly sliced)1 tablespoon fresh lemon juiceAssembly15 sheets brik pastry sheets (cut lengthwise into 3 strips)oil (for brushing)\t\n\t\n\t\tPrepare the FillingHeat a saut\u00e9 pan over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it up, for 1 minute.Add the water, then continue breaking up the meat and cook for 5 minutes, until it is nearly cooked through.Drain the beef in a colander, then immediately return it to the pan.Add the salt, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, garam masala, turmeric, ginger paste, and garlic paste. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the spices are fragrant.Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let it cool.Once the beef has cooled, add the onions, cilantro, red chili pepper, and lemon juice, then mix well to combine.Assemble and CookPlace a spoonful of filling on a strip of brik pastry and fold as shown, lightly moistening the end to seal.Arrange the briks in the air fryer basket in a single layer and brush them with oil.Air fry at 180 \u00b0C for 6 minutes. Flip, brush with more oil, then cook for 6 to 8 minutes more, until golden and crisp.FreezingArrange the briks in a single layer on a tray, freeze for 3 to 4 hours, then transfer to an airtight bag. Air fry straight from frozen.\t\n\t\n\t\t\nGinger and garlic paste: If using a combined ginger-garlic paste, use 1 tablespoon in total.\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\tSnackAlg\u00e9rienne","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}