Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Kataifi.....sort of


Kataifi is a Turkish dessert made with shredded phyllo dough which resembles angel hair pasta and it is very similar in taste with baklava. Simple to make (at least from my point of view), it does however take a bit of imagination to make if you don't have all the ingredients on hand - especially if you're stubborn and refuse to accept there is no way in the world you are not making this. Today.
So this kataifi dessert is a phyllo nest filled and/or layered with a mixture of ground nuts and lemony-sweet syrup. Simple, yes?
I looked all over the place at the shops we have "near by", but nobody seems to be carrying kataifi dough or shredded phyllo dough, therefore I improvised.
I concocted a syrup, then boiled the crumbled angel hair pasta in the syrup, using the microwave.....placed some ground walnuts at the base of 2 ramekins and topped with the now thicker pasta shreds.
Let it sit in the fridge for approx. 1 hour, then plated it and poured some cream on top.
It tasted divine, but I m sure it will taste EVEN BETTER with the real kataifi dough.
I did not use a recipe per se as I was just trying out the dish to see what I get by doing this my way.
Roughly though- there were 2 cups water, 1/2 cup lime juice, 1/2 cup sugar, some honey, lemon zest, pinch cinnamon.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Catalina! Thanks for the commens!
    I'm around, but having time only to read mostly for a cople of days.

    This desert looks delicious, although baklava is too sweet for me. Do you think using less sugar would still do?

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  2. Oh, I'm sure....and like my sister always says: "no matter how you cook your baklava, there is no way you can get it wrong"...I am pretty sure you will get it right.
    Glad to hear from you !

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  3. I have never seen this dish. It looks delicate with oozy goodness, and Im glad you compared it to baklava it sounds great.

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  4. Google kataifi and see what you can find, especially under pictures.
    With a little bit of luck, maybe you can find the shredded phyllo dough at your grocery store.

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