We are in the last week of the holy month of Ramadan. The month which teaches us patience, kindness & gratefulness. Given the times we are living in, we need these virtues more than ever.
Baklava, the beloved ottoman dessert will certainly sweeten your Iftar and Eid celebrations, however big or small. I had a great time feeling like a ‘halwai’ and making Baklava with my lovely friend Naneece.
Considering she’s Egyptian, I assumed she’d know how it’s done. Considering I’m a chef, she thought I’d know the recipe. Together, we managed! Don’t wait to try this delicacy and don’t miss reading the tips!
Blissful Baklava
Enjoy the steps!
Ingredients
- 15 phyllo sheets (about 250 gm of store-bought phyllo pack)
- 250 gm /2 cups pistachios (or half & half mix of pistachios & walnuts)
- 125 gm /1/2 cup melted ghee (or unsalted butter)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 6 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- A drop of orange blossom water (or rose water)
- Optional garnish: finely chopped pistachios, edible dried rose petals
Directions
- In a saucepan, add sugar, water, and lemon juice. Bring it to a light boil on medium-high heat and turn to low flame. Stir regularly until the sugar dissolves completely and you have a clear, thick syrup (about 5 mins). Remove from gas, add orange water and allow to cool.
- In a food processor, add the nuts, and blend into a coarse, crumbly mix.
- Check if the phyllo sheets fit your baking tray; if not then trim them from the sides to fit the tray.
- Grease the baking tray with melted ghee. Now, take a phyllo sheet and using a brush, coat it with ghee on each side. Place it on the tray. Repeat the process and layer 10 ghee-coated sheets.
- Add the nut mix and spread it evenly. Now, coat the rest of the 5 sheets with ghee and layer them. Coat the top sheet generously with ghee.
- Heat oven at 180 C. Using a sharp knife cut the assembled baklava into diamonds. Bake for 20-30 mins or until the top sheet turns golden brown and looks crisp.
- Remove from the oven and immediately pour cool syrup over the hot baklava. Allow to cool down for 6-8 hours for the pastry to absorb the syrup.
- Garnish with pistachios, and rose petals. Dig into this sweet, crispy heaven, and send me your blessings!
Tips:
- Phyllo sheets are very delicate so handle them carefully. While working with one, cover the rest with a soft kitchen towel so that they don’t dry up.
- Dry baklava means that syrup was less. On the other hand, soggy baklava indicates that the syrup was hot or the pastry had become cold. To get the perfect texture, follow the portions and steps mentioned above.
- Please note that the recipe time has been calculated on the cook and prep time basis. Cooling time has not been accounted for.
