In love with Lebanon

If i were to tell you that I got most my dinner and baking recipe from going to gym will you believe me? I know you'll think that I am joking, coz what on earth will a gym have so many recipes and meal ides?? But it's true. You see, there are 3 big LCD TV in front of me when I was on the treadmill, one is news, one is sport, and the other one will often always be a cooking show, depending on the timing of course. It's really amusing when I was running and shedding those fats, while in front of me, the chef is frying Foie gras !! There are also a lot of women's day magazines around, which also contain a lot of recipes!
So,when I was working out yesterday, I saw this recipe, about making your own chocolate baklava, I was immediately inspired. Especially since I am so hooked on Lebanese cuisinee these days.
I have a good study at the recipe, and decided that I'm going to go with my own style. I make it without the chocolate ( as a traditional baklava normally don't use chocolate ), and using a combination of pistachio and cashew nuts. Because I want to make it more healthy, and less sugary, I did not bother to make the sugar syrup, instead, I use maple syrup with rose water, and just brush the syrup on the pasty rather than pouring the whole syrup over the pastry and let them soak. But I shall includes the recipe for the sugar syrup if you like your baklava toothachiningly sweet.


Pistachio and Cashew Baklava

Ingredients:

• About 9 sheets of filo pastry
• 100g melted butter
• 100g pistachio, shelled
• 100g cashew
  
• 5 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp rose water

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius
2. Combine the pistachio, cashew and brown sugar into a grinder and grind for about 5 mins in high speed, or until the mixture resembled coarse pebble. ( beware, the texture should not be too sand like ). Add in the rosewater.
3. Use a big wet towel to cover the filo pastry to prevent them from drying out.
   
4. Took 1 sheet of filo pasty, and lay on a dry bench, and brushed the top side of the filo with a very thin layer of butter. Took another sheets of filo pastry, lay it on top of the buttered filo, and continue brushing the top side of the pasty with filo. Repeat with the 3rd sheets of filo.
   
5. Gently scatter a thin layer of ground nuts mixture on the buttered pastry, and rolled it up like a cigar. Cut the rolled up baklava into desired shaped, ( in my case, i just cut them into little tubes about 4 cm long ).
   
6. Put the baklava on a tray lined with baking paper. Brushed the top of baklava with a little butter.
7. Repeat step 4-6 until all the nuts mixture have been used up. The above recipe will yield about 3 long rolled up baklava and about 15 (4cm) cut baklava.
8. Bake in preheated oven for about 20-25 mins, or until the pasty is crisp and brown.

Alternative syrup :

• 5 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp rose water

Methods:

1. Combine the maple syrup with rose water, heat it in the microwave for about 30 second or until the the syrup is hot.
   
2. Brushed the hot baklava generously with the syrup, let it cool to room temperature before serving.
   

Original syrup:

• 1 cup of caster sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 2 tbsp rose water

Methods:

1. Dissolve the caster sugar in water on the stoves. Stir in rose water.
   
2. Pour the sugar syrup over hot baklava and let it soak for 2 hours before serving.

Beware though because I added sugar in the nut mixture, so the baklava is already sweeten. If you would like to soak your baklava in sugar syrup, it's best to excludes sugar in the nut mixture to save your pancreas from overworking !!



Since figs are good companion to middle Eastern cuisine, and since I've recently bought a bag of figs, I decorated my baklava with it. The figs are beautiful and blushing just like 2 lovers met!