Baklava

Baklava is a Mediterranean sweet with Turkish roots. It has a rich filling of dry fruits, sweetened with honey or sugar, between filo pastry sheets. This recipe is a Persian ‘Pakhlava’, made with dry fruits and rose water. You will need filo pastry sheets which are readily available in the freezer section of any supermarket.

Ingredients

For filling

1/3 cup almonds, peeled

1 cup walnuts

2 tbsp rose petals

1 tsp cardamom powder

1/4 cup sugar

Instructions

Heat water in a pan and add jaggery to it. Boil until it forms a sticky syrup. Keep aside.

Heat ghee in a pan. Add flour and cook on medium flame, stirring continuously, until golden brown for 5-6 minutes. Add all other ingredients, except the jaggery mix, to the flour. Mix well. Add the jaggery syrup to the flour mixture.

Stir for 2 minutes on medium flame until jaggery syrup has been absorbed. Spread the mix in a tray lined with baking paper or greased with ghee. Garnish with extra dry fruit pieces. Let this set for 2-3 hours and cut into required shapes.

Stored in a cool, dark place. Will keep for 1-2 weeks.

For covering/pastry

20 filo pastry sheets

½ cup melted butter

For sugar syrup

1 cup sugar

½ cup water

¼ cup rose petals

Instructions

For the syrup

In a saucepan, boil water. Stir in sugar until it dissolves and then add rose petals.

Keep aside.

For the filling

In a food processor, pulse walnuts, almonds, rose petals and sugar for 1 minute.

For making baklava

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease a baking dish (18cm x 28cm and 3.5cm-deep) evenly with butter.

Lay 8 filo sheets in the baking dish one by one, brushing each sheet with butter.

Scatter half of the filling evenly over the buttered filo sheets. Cover mixture with 6 filo sheets one by one, brushing each with butter.

Scatter the remaining filling over. Cover with 6 sheets one by one, each brushed with butter. Brush the top with butter too. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Make incisions into baklava, with a sharp knife, in desired shapes. Traditionally, it’s diamond-shaped.

Bake at 180 deg C for 35-40 mins or until golden brown. Pour rose petal syrup over the pieces. Let it cool. Remove from baking dish. Serve at room temperature.