Today, I’m introducing you to a new ingredient called Pastourma. Pastourma, it is said, is where the origins of pastrami came from.
Pastourma is stronger than pastrami and upon tasting this thin sliced cured beef, one immediately tastes garlic, paprika and notes of cumin and fenugreek.
The origins of pastourma come from the Ottoman/Armenian cuisine but it has remained popular in Greek circles and no doubt brought back to mainland Greece from the Asia Minor Greeks.
Legend has it the best pastourma was made from camel but today it’s mostly made of beef. Greeks will offer up thin slices of pastourma as part of an array of “mezedes”, in omelets or use it as an ingredient (like I’m doing here today).
If you’re curious to try pastourma, some Greek & Cypriot delis will carry it, Turkish, Armenian and Middle Eastern stores will also often sell this fabulously flavoured meat.
Today, I decided to “kick up” a roadhouse/pub classic, the Jalapeño Popper. For those not familiar with bar food here in Canada & the US, Jalapeño poppers are the spicy peppers that are filled with cheese, coated in a batter and then fried. An accompaniment of cool sour cream is also often served.
I’ve played around with the Jalapeño popper idea a few times and although the origins of this dish are Tex/Mex, my goal was to add a Greek twist to this favorite “bar food” of mine.
In Greece, we have our own cream cheese, commonly known as “katiki domikou”. Here, the cream cheese is the vehicle that delivers the Greek flavours here…mashed Feta and tiny pieces of pastourma.
As a side, I serve up a cooling and refreshing Romesco Sauce, which fairs very well with this tasty snack/appetizer.
As for the batter, I found a good fish batter works best here and after seeing wonderful results from Kevin at Closet Cooking and Nina of My Easy Cooking…I’m chiming in to add that this batter recipe rocks!
So, go out & look for pastourma and if you like it, give these Greeked-up Jalapeño Poppers a go. You’ll need some readily available tools in your kitchen and beyond hollowing the peppers, this ain’t no sweat!
Greeked-Up Jalapeño Poppers
15-20 Jalapeno peppers
1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1 slab of Greek feta cheese
3 slices of Pastourma, finely chopped
Batter
1 bottle beer
approx. 2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg (lightly beaten) salt and pepper to taste
sunflower oil for frying
Tools 
piping bag/or plastic bag
paring knife
cork screw
- First, make your batter. Add the salt and baking powder to the flour in one bowl and beat an egg in another bowl and add the beer. Now gradually whisk the flour into the beer & egg until you get a thickish pancake-like batter. Set aside and prep your peppers.
- Using a paring knife, cut off the stem part of the peppers and reserve them (you’ll cap your peppers with these later). Now using a cork screw, stick it in the pepper and gently wiggle, ream
and twist inside the peppers to hollow them out. - Get a small pot of water boiling and then throw the Jalapenos in for about 3 minutes and then blanche in cold water and then drain (you may skip this step if you like your peppers crunchy).
- In a small bowl, add the cream cheese and Feta and mash together with a fork until one. Now add your finely chopped Pastourma and mix until incorporated. Now place the cheese filling in a piping bag or a plastic bag and simply snip a small hole in the bottom corner.
- Now fill each Jalapeno with the cheese filling, to the point of where the cheese is just slightly exposed (this will be the glue to seal your peppers with the stem parts).
- Now “glue” the stem part of the peppers back on.
- Get your frying hot, to an approx. temperature of 360F. Dip your Jalapenos into the batter and then carefully drop into the hot oil. Fry until golden-brown (about 3-4 minutes) and then reserve on plate lined with paper towel.
- Serve your Greeked-Up Jalapeno Poppers with a cool Romesco Sauce.
80 Responses
Now this looks yummy!
Yay… First comment on this post!
Paul
Opa! Ole! Bravo!
Very creative and great photos.
That Pastourmi sure looks and sounds interesting! Your Jalapeño Poppers are beautiful! A real temptation!
Cheers,
Rosa
That Pastourmi sure looks and sounds interesting! Your Jalapeño Poppers are beautiful! A real temptation!
Cheers,
Rosa
That Pastourmi sure looks and sounds interesting! Your Jalapeño Poppers are beautiful! A real temptation!
Cheers,
Rosa
That Pastourmi sure looks and sounds interesting! Your Jalapeño Poppers are beautiful! A real temptation!
Cheers,
Rosa
That Pastourmi sure looks and sounds interesting! Your Jalapeño Poppers are beautiful! A real temptation!
Cheers,
Rosa
That Pastourmi sure looks and sounds interesting! Your Jalapeño Poppers are beautiful! A real temptation!
Cheers,
Rosa
That Pastourmi sure looks and sounds interesting! Your Jalapeño Poppers are beautiful! A real temptation!
Cheers,
Rosa
That Pastourmi sure looks and sounds interesting! Your Jalapeño Poppers are beautiful! A real temptation!
Cheers,
Rosa
Pastourma is great! Quite a medley of flavours and textures you got going on in this one Peter!
Oh no! This is not the thing to be craving at 6 am :( That looks deeeelish. I’ve never tried pastourma before, but now I *must*. Peter, you rock!
Pastourma sounds great. Will keep an eye out for it.
These poppers are calling for several glasses of ice cold beer. Hey, perfect for Friday afternoon Happy Hour, wouldn’t you say?
Now I WANT ‘Greeked-Up Jalapeño Poppers’!!!….Like now!
Sadly, I do not believe I will be able to get Pastourma where I am tho. However – I will be on a mission now to find it!
I have to try your recipe for poppers. They look delicious. And your photos are wonderful. Our big Greek festival is next weekend. Maybe somebody can tell me where to find pastourma locally.
Greek Poppers…I have to say yes to that:D
great looking little tempting appetiser
Mmmm Peter!!! Eventhough they are stuffed with queso… they look soooooo yumy ;D and crunchy outside… a delish.
The pastourma has intrigued me. I’ll try to look for it when I go to Boqueria Market :D
Bring on the Greek style jalapeno peppers!…this is a great twist Peter!
Pretty sure I can’t get Pastourma here. But I think I can find something similar…I need to have these!
what a way to gourmet up a favorite bar food!
Whoa Peter – Those poppers look great! I love them! Can I have a bite?
Never heard of these poppers before but they sound great with your Greek touch.
Nom nom nom – funnily enough I was thinking up a recipe for stuffed chillies just last night! And you’ve just given me an idea…
Pastourma is a new one to me – but looks like something I could get along with!
Jalapeno poppers are one of my absolute favorite pub snacks! I’ve never thought about making my own but I am thinking it is time! Now I have a serious craving that is going to make the day at work extremely difficult!
WOW Peter this is a new ingredient to me and thank you for educating me!
Your dish truly looks Magnificent with a capital M for mmmmmmmm
I love these poppers! Peter, you’ve made my day. I’m going to go around smiling, thinking about these!
oh my. these look deadly and delicious. I have been looking for a good beer-batter recipe — this one looks light and delicate and I like how golden it gets.
oh my. these look deadly and delicious. I have been looking for a good beer-batter recipe — this one looks light and delicate and I like how golden it gets.
oh my. these look deadly and delicious. I have been looking for a good beer-batter recipe — this one looks light and delicate and I like how golden it gets.
oh my. these look deadly and delicious. I have been looking for a good beer-batter recipe — this one looks light and delicate and I like how golden it gets.
oh my. these look deadly and delicious. I have been looking for a good beer-batter recipe — this one looks light and delicate and I like how golden it gets.
oh my. these look deadly and delicious. I have been looking for a good beer-batter recipe — this one looks light and delicate and I like how golden it gets.
oh my. these look deadly and delicious. I have been looking for a good beer-batter recipe — this one looks light and delicate and I like how golden it gets.
oh my. these look deadly and delicious. I have been looking for a good beer-batter recipe — this one looks light and delicate and I like how golden it gets.
I am going to come and live next door to you, then at least i can have all these delicious food you are making.
This pastourma is new to me.
I have also never seen the jalapeno peppers here, here we have the turkish one.
Can i used something else than pastourma.
Really I am just drooling here.
wow, the color on that pastourma is no joke. and you may have singlehandedly redeemed jalapeno peppers for me.
I want some of these. NOW!
I am craving for Jalapeno but can’t seem to find any here in Singapore. Your post is making me crave for it once again :D
we call this a chili rush and I LOVE it!!!! It really gets my endomorphisms going!!!!
I love pastrami, so I’d probably love pastourma! Beautiful pictures, as always!
I could eat about a dozen of these. Easy :)
Oh Heaven above this looks soooo good! I love poppers, and your looks so amazing. The addition of the Patourma as well as feta makes these different than anything I’ve tried before. And that Romesco Sauce … YUM! Also, your use of the corkscrew is genius! Really … I’ve never heard using a corkscrew before and I’m sitting here thinking how great it must work in this application! I want some poppers!
Oh, Peter! I love jalapeno poppers. So perfect with a cold beer. Great job Greeking it up!
Hey Paul, thx and did you go to Greece?
Gracias, foodalogue.
Rosa, I gonna make'em again!
Sam, I found a good source too!
Jen, thx, I love the garlicky stuff.
Lori, I indeed have some beers.
Jan, always wanting..wah-wah-wah! lol Come & get it!
Wife w/ knife, welcome…the Greeks a the festival should fill you in.
Val, nai-nai!
Thx Kiwi!
Nuria, I am going to bombard you with cheese until you love it!
Pete, they were a delite to eat.
Judy, check the middle-east stores for it.
Kat, much better at home too!
Jenn, have a basket of them!
Ivy, these are often offered at bars & pubs here…the pastourma works well.
Kittie, sounds like you're feeling better as your appetite's back.
Med cook, now you can make'em at home.
Rosie, no probs.
JS, you might find pastourma at Minerva.
Alexandra, this batter is very good.
Happy, we'd make good neighbors.
Michelle, it's fun redoing bar junk at home, at least now I know what's in it.
Nicole, say please!
Noob, try it with another peppper?
Nina, good term!
Marjie, the flavour here more pronounced.
Maryann, so could I…that's why I made a few.
Paula…thanks…you're armed with making these yourself.
Thanks Natashya…I try & add a greek touch to most of my food.
hi peter,
oh my goodness, your jalapeno poppers look amazing! jalapeno poppers are one of my guilty pleasures. :)
What a great twist for the popper. And thank you for teaching me something new today. :)
I also agree with that beer batter assessment. I didn’t get it from those guys, it was something I picked up last year in a fried fish tacos recipe. It’s crunchy perfection!
I am a HEAT SISSY! But they still look very appitizing!
First of all, the email notification puts me a day behind all of your posts.
Second, I just want to pile those on a burger. Fucking hell, I’m dying over here.
Oh yes! I would definitely like some of this!
Looks delicious and very colourful with that first bite!
ronell
I haven’t even had breakfast yet and you are showing me this? Unfair! They look so good. I used to get a bastourma pide from a Turkish place in Sydney and loved it.
i’m loving your take on one of my all-time favorite finger foods. very nice, as usual. :)
How Maryann I could eat a lot of these Peter!! Look wonderful and yummy!! I tasted yesterday a jalapeño’ s tortilla in my brother´s home!! delicious!xxxGloria
looks like a great appetizer idea… thanks for sharing… :)
Nothing like deep fried cheese!
Ooh, with a nice cold beer YES!
That batter does look great. We make an appetizer with jalapenos, cream cheese and anchovies. Never thought of frying them but I just might now. Thanks Peter.
My dad would love these, me, I’m a bit of a wimp and these would probably be too hot for me!
I have never had pastourma! It sounds delicious though, as do these jalapenos. Wow, Peter. I loooooove stuffed jalapenos and this Greek twist looks fantastic.
Oh these look fantastic! I would love to have one of these right now!
I’m not into beer, but give me about a dozen of these with a diet Pepsi and I’m a happy girl!!
I’ve never heard of pastrami’s mother before – cool. This is such a wowzer to serve as an appetizer – love it. I’m curious about how much heat really comes through once it’s cooked.
Susan, me too!
Mel, this is now my "go to" batter recipe.
Leslie is a wussy! lol
Heather, RSS feeds thru a reader are the quickest. You like making sammies of everything, don't ya?
Kalyn, who doesn't like melted cheese, right?
Ronell, good to the stem!
Foody, the best Patourma I had was in Instanbul at the Egyptian bazaar.
Grace, drop by for some poppers & beer.
Gloria, I do luv peppers.
Mikky, you're welcome!
Dawn, indeed.
Lori lynn, just 1 beer?
Joanne, these aren't too hot.
Elly, it's wonderful…garlicky but wonderful.
Marie, drink whatever you wish – just eat'em up!
Giz, when I reamed the insides, the rib and seeds were removed – mildy spicy.
I have taken a note of this, so I can give these a try. I still have quite a few jalapenos on my plant.
Peter, this is SO creative, and it looks absolutely wonderful. Just extraordinary!
I only had jalapeno poppers at a party recently. I could not stop eating them. Now with a recipe like this I can enjoy them at home.
When I read this post a few days, I decided this was a good way to get rid of (some) of the excess jalapeno peppers (I only have 6 plants after all, and I have already made several quarts of hot sauce). I did not have feta nor cream cheese so used Queso Blanco and some Rondele. Served the peppers with Early Fall Tomato Soup (see recipe at http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2008/09/21/early-fall-tomato-soup/)
Finished dinner with a Maple & Vanilla Bean Flan.
Beautiful! Thank you for the timely idea, Peter.
Sylvie
http://www.LaughingDuckGardens.com/ldblog.php/
Peter, they look mighty fine – although I might give them a pass because I’ve never liked Pastourma. It’s the fenugreek that gets me.
this look diabolically good.
i am soooo jealous.
Holler, without the pastourma of course, you being a veg. & all.
Jen, thanx!
Helene, these are much better…you know what's in them.
Sylvie, thanks for trying them out…hoped everyone enjoyed them.
Laurie, we can't like everything, can we but please give me your portion of pastourma the next time someone offers it to you…I'll glady savour it (fenugreek & all).
Anna, you can find pastourma in Oz, for sure.
LOVE jalapeno poppers – and a great, creative way to use that delicious-looking pastourma. love learning about new ingredients!
Man, it’s nice to have you back and regularly blogging again. My only comment for those poppers: yum yum YUM
See what happens when work prevents me from browsing my favorite food blogs? I miss terrific posts (& recipes) like this!
I LOVE jalapeno poppers, and these, seriously Peter, look like the best poppers ever—I LOVE this recipe (and that phenomenal batter)! Thanks for the heads up on the Pastourma too. I was completely unfamiliar with it. Consider my culinary horizons expanded!
I was addicted to this meat while growing up!! I haven’t had it in the longest time, and your post brought back delicious memories! I bet it is delicious in these poppers (it’s delicious on everything!)
Are you doing one post a day?
Damn! You have too many things to share. Another delicious one. Wow. I want some of that.
wow i will surely love this! perfect with icy cold beer :)
Now THIS is what I call fusion food – Greco-Tex-Mex bar snacks LOL!! I’ve never had jalapeno poppers but seeing as I’ll be in Chicago at the end of the week I’m going to make it my mission to find some ;-)
Looks great, Peter. I’m sure it tastes great too. I love pastirma a lot, and I’m kind of surprised that you can find it. The ones I find at middle eastern markets do not taste the same. My favorite uses of pastirma is to cook it with cannelini beans and also with fried eggs. yummm
orgasmic…
damndamndamn peter! i want 5 of those. now!!!
Neverfull, it's a great meat…exotic, garlicky and works well here.
Giff, it's good to be back, thank you!
Sandie, I hope you can find pastourma and give it a go.
Antonio, good to know to know you share a love of pastourma!
Jeanne, you bet…mixing & matching!
Burcu, Toronto is multi-ethnic and I can find pastourma at middle-eastern stores and this time from our Greektown. The fellow behind the counter said this pastourma was Turkish…there ya go!
CEF, make it an even 6? lol