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Lena, thank you so much for this amazing recipe. We loved it and so did the guys at our church construction site (see more about that below). They were easy and tasted amazing!
I ended up grinding my own pork and beef but you may use pre-ground. I prefer ground chuck or ground sirloin (“beef” sounds like mystery meat to me!). This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Ingredients for Chebureki:
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
½ medium bunch of cilantro, chopped
½ medium bunch of parsley, chopped
1 large bunch of green onion (1 cup chopped)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp milk
15 raw tortillas
How to Make the Meat Mix for Chebureki:
1. I ground my own meat with the KitchenAid attachment. I used boneless pork top loin and boneless beef country store ribs, Fresh is best and there’s no mystery about what’s in it. Mix ground pork and ground beef together (I use my KitchenAid with my paddle attachment to spare my fingers from freezing).
2.Stir in the cilantro, parsley and green onion. Add salt, ground pepper and milk.
Assembling Lena’s Amazing Cherubeki:
1. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add enough canola to cover bottom of pan. Use two skillets to speed up the process.
2. Place a heaping tablespoon over 1/2 of the tortilla.
Spread the meat over 1/2 of the tortilla, leaving about a 1-inch border.
3. Brush water on the entire border of the tortilla; enough so you can see that it’s wet, otherwise it won’t seal.
4. Press the sides together and seal with a fork. Flip the tortilla over and seal the other side with the fork as well to make sure they don’t open while frying.
This is the result of little fingers that really, really wanted to help (and mom turning away for a split second).
5. Saute 3 minutes on each side over medium heat. You may need to adjust your heat settings (not all ranges are created equal), but they do need about 3 minutes per side to cook through. Place them between paper towels when done.
They can get a little juicy inside so be careful that you don’t get a lap-full of juice when taking a bite.
I took a double batch of these to our construction site (we are building a church you know) and the guys loved ’em! They gobbled them up so fast, with ooh’s and ahh’s galore. I only wish I had made more! I love this picture; it looks like my Dad is running to get some chebureky.
Lena's Chebureki Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb ground pork
- ½ medium bunch of cilantro, chopped
- ½ medium bunch of parsley, chopped
- 1 large bunch of green onion, 1 cup chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 3 Tbsp milk
- 15 raw tortillas
Instructions
- Mix ground pork and ground beef together using Kitchen Aid with paddle attachment or by hand.
- Stir in the cilantro, parsley and green onion. Add salt, ground pepper and milk.
Assembling Cherubeki:
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add enough canola to cover bottom of pan. Use two skillets to speed up the process.
- Place a heaping tablespoon over 1/2 of the tortilla. Spread the meat over 1/2 of the tortilla, leaving about a 1-inch border.
- Brush water on the entire border of the tortilla; enough so you can see that it's wet, otherwise it won't seal.
- Press the sides together and seal with a fork. Flip the tortilla over and seal the other side with the fork as well to make sure they don't open while frying.
- Saute 3 minutes on each side over medium heat. You may need to adjust your heat settings (not all ranges are created equal), but they do need about 3 minutes per side to cook through. Place them between paper towels when done.
- They can get a little juicy inside so be careful that you don't get a lap-full of juice when taking a bite.
I made this tonight and it was yummy!
I forgot the salt/pepper and the milk (whoops!) and I used ground turkey (it’s what I had on hand) and regular tortilla’s (not raw, I couldn’t find them at Super Target or my local grocery store, I’ll check one of the other local stores for next time) and I had a little trouble keeping them closed, at the edges, but not too bad.
The whole family liked them (myself, my husband, our 6 year old and our 18 month old!) They actually reminded us of Won Ton’s (I don’t make Won Ton’s with cream cheese, instead I use a meat combo similar to this.) I dipped mine in sweet and sour sauce because I’m a sauce fan, but the rest of the family ate them plain. I also made a “special” one and added a small layer of stewed tomatoes from a can, they were good as well!
Great, I’m glad you like it Caroline :).
Natasha, is it really just 1 tsp of salt, may be 1table spoon??? I cooked 1/2 of the batch and used almost 1tsp. It is GREAT!!! LOVE IT!!! You need to seal it very tight or you’ll end up with an oil fountain (like someone mentioned), it is very juicy.
I only used 1 tsp, but I’ve been trying to decrease salt in my diet so I’ve gotten used to things being less salty. Did you like it better with 1 Tbsp?
Hey Natasha, can i use chicken insead of beef? Im just not a really beef person.
Yes you definitely can 🙂
Hello again. So I decided to improvise and use the tortillas that looked like they weren’t cooked all the way and it still tuned out amazing. My husband ate 3 of them and mom and sister stopped by on the way home from work and took a couple home. I love cooking and I have made CHEBUREKI before and they were never as good. Thank you so much for all the wonderful recipes.
You are welcome Olia, thank your for your sweet comments :).
Hi Natasha. I love your website, I have already made few dishes and loved them. Just like we used to make them back in Ukraine with my grandma! I live in Canada now and I have a terrible time finding raw tortillas. It is a small community and non of the stores have them. 🙂
Natasha, kak dela?
This looks very eazy to make, however where can I find an uncooked tortillas? and I see that the meat is raw as well, will it cook in 3 min inside the tortillas? will it be safe to eat ?
It does cook through perfectly because it’s 3 minutes per side. Also, you can find the raw tortillas at Winco, Walmart and Costco. 🙂
thank you so much for having this recipe! i saw someone post a pic of chebureki on fb and was craving them ever since ( i’m preggo). i never made them before so i checked out your website for the recipe and walla just like everything else you had the recipe. so i ran to the store to get the things but could not find the “uncooked” tortillas and finally i found a store with raw dough that kind of looked like tortillas and bought GOYA brand dough. they turned out great and my hubby loved them as well. but i think i need to find a different store that sells the actual uncooked tortillas. the dough that i bought might have been a little too hard : ( but they still satisfied my craving and can’t wait to try more of your recipes : ) Thank you so much!!!!!
Definitely give it a shot with the raw tortillas; they are so good! I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed the recipe!
These were a hit for New Year’s Eve Russian style. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe. The raw tortillas are a huge timesaver. My kids loved them too. Happy 2013!
Thanks Krista! Sounds like a fun New Year’s eve menu! 🙂
These are amazing, thanks for the recipe
You are welcome 🙂
These are the best I made them today:) Thank you Natasha:)
You’re welcome. So glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Natasha, I am so excited to see this recipe on your blog. I still have memories of my mom frying chebureki when I was little. I live in London and Mexican food is not too huge here so unfortunately no uncooked tortillas to be found. Anything else I could substitute them with?
I haven’t really experimented with a dough for these since he uncooked tortillas are so easy! I’ll be on the lookout for something for you and will share it if I find a recipe.
Natasha, I looove chebureki, but I ‘m not a meat eater since last year. If I will mix greens or something else except meat, would it work? Thank you!
I never tried chebureki without meat so can’t really suggest alternatives, but they still should taste really good with mix greens. Let me know how they will turn out 🙂
I used braised cabbage and it was good, like pirogok, but with meat it would be better.
Thank you for posting this recipe! My mother and I made these for dinner tonight and everyone liked them, minus two little toddlers. 🙂 I made your Creamy Cucumber and Tomato Salad to go along with this dish, and it was also really good! The only difficult part in cooking the Chebureki was figuring out the right heat setting, everything else was easy!
Thanks, again! 🙂
Elizabeth
I’m glad that you enjoyed the recipes. I have found that heavy bottomed skilled is the best one for distributing the heat evenly 🙂
These are great!!
I visited the Cave city near Sevastopol and helped a Babushka carry her baskets to the top of the range. I am mid 30’s very fit and healthy and I had the same weight as her and I could not keep up!! Amazing! At the top I bought some of these off her and between the Chebureki and the Kvas she had, I ate and drank too far too much and had to have a sleep in the warm sun before I could walk back down… 😀
Sounds like quite an adventure! Thanks for sharing that story. It makes me think of my own grandparents (who are now in Heaven). Their generation astounds me. Their work ethic is just incredible!
I made these yesterday and they were gone before I finished frying them. 🙂 Everyone loved them! They were so very good! 🙂 The only difference is I omitted cilantro, as nobode in my house cares for it and since I couldn’t find raw tortillas, I used regular fajita style ones. I wasn’t able to seal the edges but chebureki still did not fall apart and retained their perfect shape and were super crunchy! I suspect there was no difference in taste using those. Natasha, where do buy raw tortillas? Just wondering. And Thank You for another wonderful recipe that is a definite keeper! 🙂
I wasn’t sure about this recipe cause the amount of cilantro and parsely
that had to be used but I made it any way cause I already had in hand ground beef ,chicken and tortilla. This recipe blew my mind how good this tastes, the onions, cilantro, and parsely tastes amazing in this. My husband is American and he LOVED it. I did ground up one pound of chicken breast and my husband requested that I add cheese and that was really good too.
Thank you for posting this recipe. I can’t wait to make it again.
I didn’t think it could get any more flavorful but chicken and cheese sound great! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe 😉
I prepared these yesterday. Taste delicious. But I would have to admit that they would have tasted better if I used beef and pork instead of chicken and turkey. Turned out kinnda dry. But next time I will definitely use the kind of meat that you used, Natasha . Thank you for posting 🙂
It’s good to know that chicken and turkey don’t work very well for this recipe. Thank you for sharing!
I don’t eat pork, what can I use instead?
You can try beef and turkey or beef and chicken. It may be a little dry compared to the pork, but it should still taste great!
Hi Natasha
So I got mission flour tortillas n they r not raw I cannot use those right? I didn’t know where to look for raw ones ;-(
Is it gonna work or no chance at all w cooked ones??Thank you
Ive heard from a couple of my readers that it doesn’t work because they burn too quickly. They are sold in winco, Walmart and Costco
Found the uncooked tortillas at Costco and am delighted to have made these. They were delicious! I made 15 and had leftovers…they reheated very well in the toaster oven….crispy and yummy!