Baklawa / Baklava
Baklawa is a sweet pastry that is popular all over the middle east and eastern Mediterranean. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but all contain the same ingredients, filo pastry, nuts and syrup. They're crispy and gooey and insanely sweet. The more nuts and the more layers of pastry, the better the end result. I like to use around 14-20 layers of pastry, followed by a layer of chopped nuts, followed by a top layer of 14-20 layers of pastry. In this recipe I have used 2 packets of filo pastry, containing 14 layers each.
A variety of nuts can be used. I prefer pistachios, almonds and cashews. You can use a mixture of nuts, or 1 type of nuts, its entirely up to you. In this recipe I have used almonds and cashews.
Ingredients
28 layers of filo pastry (2 packets of 14 layers)
3 cups of almonds
1 cup of cashew nuts
1 cup of sugar
50-75g butter, melted
for the syrup
2 cups of sugar
2 cups water
juice of half a lemon
3-4 cardamom pods (optional)
1 desert spoon rose water
Method
Turn the oven on to 180C. Put the nuts and sugar in a food processor and grind till the nuts are chopped. They should be finely chopped, not like a powder, you want some texture to remain.
Take a baking tray and measure out the filo pastry. (Place the tray over the pastry and cut around it).
Butter the baking tray. Take the first layer of pastry and place it in the tray. Brush with melted butter and cover with the next layer. Repeat this until you have used about 14 sheets of pastry. Spread the nut mixture over the pastry. Now take another layer of pastry, brush with melted butter, and place another filo pastry on top. Repeat this till you have used up all the remaining pastry.
The final layer should be brushed with butter. Use a knife to cut the baklawa in to squares/diagonals/rectangles. (make sure you cut through all the layers). A tip is to let the butter on the top layer cool a little, so it hardens before you cut. This will make it easier to cut, as the top pastry will not stick to the knife).
Place the baklawa into the oven, and cook till the top layer is golden, roughly for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile for the syrup, place the sugar, cardamom and water in a pan and bring to the boil. Add the lemon juice and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the rose water.
When the baklawa is done, take it out the oven and pour the syrup over the hot baklawa. Let the baklawa cool and serve with some coffee/tea. Perfect!
Note, sometimes it may be hard to remove the baklawa from the baking tray. To make it easier, you can heat the tray a little, to loosen the syrup at the bottom. If you re-run a knife along the previously made cuts, this will separate the individual pieces and make it easier to remove.
Ingredients
28 layers of filo pastry (2 packets of 14 layers)
3 cups of almonds
1 cup of cashew nuts
1 cup of sugar
50-75g butter, melted
for the syrup
2 cups of sugar
2 cups water
juice of half a lemon
3-4 cardamom pods (optional)
1 desert spoon rose water
Method
Turn the oven on to 180C. Put the nuts and sugar in a food processor and grind till the nuts are chopped. They should be finely chopped, not like a powder, you want some texture to remain.
Take a baking tray and measure out the filo pastry. (Place the tray over the pastry and cut around it).
Butter the baking tray. Take the first layer of pastry and place it in the tray. Brush with melted butter and cover with the next layer. Repeat this until you have used about 14 sheets of pastry. Spread the nut mixture over the pastry. Now take another layer of pastry, brush with melted butter, and place another filo pastry on top. Repeat this till you have used up all the remaining pastry.
The final layer should be brushed with butter. Use a knife to cut the baklawa in to squares/diagonals/rectangles. (make sure you cut through all the layers). A tip is to let the butter on the top layer cool a little, so it hardens before you cut. This will make it easier to cut, as the top pastry will not stick to the knife).
Place the baklawa into the oven, and cook till the top layer is golden, roughly for 30 minutes.
When the baklawa is done, take it out the oven and pour the syrup over the hot baklawa. Let the baklawa cool and serve with some coffee/tea. Perfect!
Note, sometimes it may be hard to remove the baklawa from the baking tray. To make it easier, you can heat the tray a little, to loosen the syrup at the bottom. If you re-run a knife along the previously made cuts, this will separate the individual pieces and make it easier to remove.
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