Monday, May 15, 2006

Sweet n Flaky Baklava

Spices are strongly flavored parts of plant used in small quantities in food as a preservative or flavouring in cooking.India is a "Treasure for Spices" and that is the primary reason that Portuguese navigator Vasco Da Gama sailed to India,which eventually led the british empire rule for more than four centuries. Around that same time,when Christopher Columbus happened upon the 'New World', he was quick to describe to investors the many new spices available there.All my narration about spices ends here.This for my entry to The Spice is Right II,Theme - Sweet or Savory by using Ancient Spices food blog event,by Barbara Fisher's of Tigers and Strawberries.

So,I picked Clove(Lavangalu/Laung) as my spice ingredient.The most aromatic part of the clove is the "bud".Lavangalu are rich in spice and used in biryanis,soups,garam masala pwd,bengali sweets also.So,I tried this sweet recipe by adding Clove after researching on google.Baklava is made with phyllo sheets filled with a nut mixture in between layers, covered with a sweetening agent.Filo(phyllo or fillo) dough is named after the Greek word for "leaf".Here is the more info about Turkish Dessert from kitchenproject.
Bakalava

Ingredients:
Phyllo Sheets - 16no,Thaw before using if the roll is kept in freezer.
Dried Apricots - 5 no,diced 1/4-inch
Almonds - 15 no, chopped
Cashewnuts - 15 no,chopped
Pistachios - 15 no,chopped
Peanuts - 3tspn ,chopped
Dried coconut - 2tspn
Unsalted Butter -(1 stick)
Sugar - 1 cup
Ground Cinnamon - 1 tspn
Ground Cardamom - 6 no,crushed
Ground Cloves - 15 no
Bakalava ready to eat

Syrup
Sugar - 1 cup
Honey - 2 tspn
water - 1/2cup
Boil all the above ingredients in medium flame for 10min and make a 1/3rd consistency of thick syrup.

Method:
In a Blender whirl 1/2 cup sugar with the Almonds and Cashewnuts,Pistachios,Peanuts, 2-Cloves,Cardamom pwd,Apricot pieces until ground. Pour into a bowl and stir with remaining 1/2 cup Sugar,Coconut pwd and the cinnamon.Melt butter in a pan and keep it aside.Preheat oven to 350°.Take a Rectangular baking pan and brush bottom and sides with melted butter.Unroll the phyllo sheets and Cover the phyllosheets in wet cloth because if phyllo is exposed to air then it will dry out and split.Lay one phyllo layer in the greased baking pan.Brush it with butter.One at a time,layer 7 more sheets over the first, properly placing into pan and brushing each with butter.Put 1/2 inch size layer of the nut mixture(Put leftover nutmix in a zipbag and store them in the freezer.)over buttered phyllo in pan. Lay another sheet of phyllo on top, making it to fit into pan and brushing with butter. Repeat layering of nut mixture with phyllo sheets and butter until all nut mixture is over.Top with the same number of the phyllo sheets for the upper layer by brushing each layer with butter.Lay the last sheet flat on top and brush with butter.Cut acroos the baklava into a 2-inch size ,square pieces.Press a clove in the middle of every square.Bake until top is light golden and crisp and edges pull away from pan sides,35 to 45 minutes.
Studded clove Bakalava ready to bakeBakalava after baking
Keep pan on a wire rack and run your knife along cuts lightly so that bottom should not get scratched.Pour sweet syrup over baklava.Let stand to absorb most of the syrup, at least 3 hours. Cut through the bottom layer and serve. It will last at least a week at room temp. Do not refrigerate.Store in an airtight container.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoa! Okay, now you are qualified to open a bakery near my house ;-)

sailu said...

Lovely pictures and nice entry for the event,Vineela!

Sailaja

Luv2cook said...

wow..I love baklava..I used to for a woman for Iraq when I was a student and she made the amazing baklava. It was so good. Then after I graduated, at my first job, I worked with another guy from Lebanon and his baklava was amazing too. But they were both a little different from each other in recipe.

I never knew you could put cloves in baklava...I am definitely going to try this one..

KA said...

Baklava, yumm.. Looks divine vineela. Best baklava I have ever tasted was from a middle-eastern bakery located at Dearborn, MI. I still remember its taste..

Priya said...

Looks Awesome.I love baklava , thye are so sweet and crunchy and chewy!!!!
Iam definetely going to try this.

Anonymous said...

vineela, lovely recipe and great use of clove as a spice.

KA, Dearborn has THE best baklava!!! once you have had it, you can never forget the taste and nothing else comes close to that :)

cheers!

Shilpa said...

Never heard of this recipe. But it looks absolutely delicious. Its on my to-do list :).

Indira said...

WOW! Not fair, Vineela. Last week allam murabba bars, now this. :):)

I too LOVE baklava, yours making my mouth water. Adding cloves is really a nice touch, I guess it makes the flavor even stronger. What a treat!

Pav said...

Vineela,
I had to go get a blogger id to comment in ur blog. Great baklava there !!

Rajesh &Shankari said...

great blog. I love baklava but I am refraining from it for health reasons

indosungod said...

yum! I am speechless!

LERA said...

Nice pictures, Baklava made at Home, Mmmmm sounds appealing.....:)

Anonymous said...

Bold inspiring recipe.Going to try one day.Thanks for sharing.

Tanuja said...

Hi vineela,

Mee baklava sweets channa bhagunayi have to try them,thanks for sharing the recipe.

Emiti vineela ee week antha sweets tho hubby impress chestunaru emiti katha:P

BDSN said...

I have tasted Lebanese baklava.It was perfect.After that I havent tasted it at all....now u have made it and the pic looks great...

Ashwini said...

amazing...baklava is so difficult in my opinion. Very nice photo too Vineela

Lakshmi said...

hi vineela,
Malli Sweet, abba illa cheste yalla cheppu, mari maaku...baklava , i like them, kani e sheets ye store lo dorukutayi Vineela.

Unknown said...

Biutiful!!!! Well done to u.

RP said...

Wow! Beautiful.
I made baklava long time ago. Its really yummy and melt in the mouth kind of dessert, isn't it?

Vineela said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Vineela said...

Hi LG,Sailaja,cookingtheory Thank you.
L2C - Thank you. I just want to try it with some spices Cardamom is o.k to choose coz we can add in biryanis and sweets also.But i have seen bengali sweets studded with cloves so i apt that and used in baklava.
Arjuna- i never tasted before baklava anywhere hope to find some bakery near by .Thank you.
Priya ,Shilpa - give it a try you guys will definetly like it.
SH-Thank you .I will definetly try to visit that bakery if i get a chance.
Indira - Thank you for your comments.
Ya, i am feeling the cloves taste and aroma more the another day of my preperation.
ISG - Thank you very much.
Lera,Ramya,BDSN Thank you for your comments.
Tanuja -Thank YOU nothing special just i prepared . Give it a try Iam sure you will enjoy the taste.
Lakshmi - You can get these fillo sheets in the frozen section where we can get pastry sheets.Thank s for leaving your comment.
Mythili- Thank you
Shankari-this is the first time i prepared this sweet.i have never tasted before.i liked it. we can do when guests are coming r for some party but not regularly.
Pushpa- Thank you very much.
ASHWINI - Just you have to work out carefully with fillo sheets by wrapping in damp cloth.Thats it your bakalava is ready.i just did with 8 and 8(total 16) coz first time iam trying and i never tasted it before.You can add more Layers if you like to a have big one.
RP - Nice to see a Yummy baklava in your site.Really it melts in mouth.
When iam going to bake baklava my husband came from office and asked me "what is this?" and he assisted me in taking photos.It is a new sweet for both of us and we really enjoyed the taste of spicy clove and sweet nut mixture.
Santhi - Thank You. You are always welcome.
Vineela

Unknown said...

This is superb! I;ve been wanting to make Baklava for some time now , was searching for a do-able recipe- I think I can try this one now

Cheers

Hadar said...

Yum! It looks wonderful and is full of good things!
One thing, though: wouldn't it be better with honey instead of sugar?

Anonymous said...

Looking for information and found it at this great site... » »