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.

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There are over 18,000 registered brokers all over New South Wales and this is the first time that an Indian has won in any category.

The Australian Broking Awards are the only industry awards focusing exclusively on the leading brokers, brokerages and aggregation groups in the Australian mortgage industry. The awards recognise the very best brokers and brokerages in the industry.

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This is not the first accolade for Gupta. He was also awarded as the winner of the NSW/ACT Finance Broker of the Year in 2016 at the FBAA Awards of Supremacy.

“Our organisation provides customer services beyond the conventional mortgage broker services due to our comprehensive portfolio of consultancy services and product selection. As an Elite Mortgage Broker service provider, we believe we stand out from the crowd of thousands of mortgage brokers in the industry by providing tailored customer service,” Gupta said.