BAKLAVA

I got my tourist visa for Australia last July and I got here in August. My husband and I ... both are big foodies, so the first week after my arrival, we were exploring all types of food :) . My husband having a sweet tooth had something secret for me. He told me one day,' I will take u to a place where u get a beautiful sweet thing  "BAKLAVA" '. I haven't heard this name before. I was wondering what it would be look like and what about the taste.... as I'm not into sweets as my hubby and in-laws are.

Then after having dinner at Billus in Harris park he took me to the shop across the road called Sweet Land. That shop is full of cakes, pastries and a very different type of sweet called Baklava. Baklava is syrupy traditional Lebanese sweet.

We ordered 500 gm of Baklava and I was waiting to arrive home to taste this sweet. When I took first bite of baklava ..... ummmmm ....... its so yum .... then by trial and error I became expert in making Baklava. 

Baklava comes in many style and shapes, you can layer them or you can roll them as you want. I'm showing you the my version of rolling one.... very easy ... 

I made it for all of you who visited my page for something different. 

BAKLAVA

Ingredients:

1 pack of Filo Pastry

150 gm Unsalted Butter or Ghee (clarified butter)

50 ml Canola Oil or any oil which don't have any taste e.g. olive oil

Filling:

2 cup Pistachios 

2 tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon Powder

Syrup:

1 and 1/2 cup  Water

1 and 1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Lime Juice

Other Things You Need:

1 Baking Tray

1 Pastry Brush

Recipe:

First thing first ... melt the butter and add oil to it.

For filling put pistachios and sugar in blender and just crush coarsely and put in a bowl. Mix cinnamon powder to it.

Now take out your filo pastry and keep them in lightly damp tea towel (It will keep pastry soft and don't let drying out) .

Brush your baking tray.

Take one filo pastry sheet brush it with butter mix. Now take another sheet, layer it on the buttered sheet and then spread butter mix over it.

Layer two more sheet like this and then spread the filling on sheet and layer another sheet.

Now roll this stack starting from one side very tightly to the other end. 

Place in the baking tray with the opening sheet sides down (So that it wont open while baking).

Make all the rolls and place them in the tray next to other.

Preheat oven at 170C / 350F.

Brush the rolls in the pan with butter mix and bake them for 30 minutes. I will say after 20 minutes just have a look. Make sure that you cook them in middle rack :) 

They should be light golden brown as shown in picture. Cut them in desirable size all the way down and have a look that it is cooked till the middle part.

Mean while make sugar syrup by boiling water and sugar for 5 minutes then simmer for 12 minutes and then add lemon juice and boil for 1 minute.

Pour this syrup over the cooked rolls and garnish with pistachios (shredded, crushed or finely powdered as u like).

Let the rolls soak in syrup so that it is absorbed thoroughly ( it may take 2-3 hours sometimes 4 hrs).

You can also make square shaped baklava ... by just stacking sheets and pistachios in baking tray. Cut them in your desirable shape (square / rectangle / diamond). When pouring syrup on baklava, pour it in between the line not all over them, otherwise baklava won't turn out well. You can also make variation where ever you want.

Now have a bite ..... so delicious :)

Give it a try and tell how you like it.

Till then keep smiling … its precious :)