When I was a little girl back in Cyprus, I had a great fondness for kataifi, not ekmek just simple old plain kataifi. The reason was that once a week, a man with a van filled with homemade syrupy desserts used to drive around neighbourhoods and sell these desserts by the piece. It was such a novelty for us and my dad was his biggest customer! I have never met a man in my life who loves syrupy sweets like my dad and this man in a van was his weekly treat. As soon as everyone chose his/her piece, we would sit around the table enjoying that special moment. I would always go for the kataifi and I remember I used to call it ”hair” because it resembled fine hair. Weird I know!
When I met my husband and travelled to Greece, I first had the pleasure to taste and enjoy ekmek kataifi in our engagement party. So I have tried many recipes to replicate that, I guess maybe to remember that beautiful night. Here, I will be sharing the best of all ensuring you success.
Ekmek kataifi primarily is a Turkish dessert and unfortunately I never got to try the Turkish version. I do know though that is is completely different to the Greek version even though they carry the same name. The Turkish dessert is a bread putting dessert, which is usually served with kaymak, a type of clotted cream. The Greek version on the other hand, uses kataifi pastry for the base drenched in syrup, topped with creme patisserie and whipped cream and sprinkled with chopped almond nuts. Obviously, they are not similar at all but hey I am sure they both taste delicious!
So, if you would like to make this very easy and oh my God, extremely delicious dessert then darlings, let’s get baking!
INGREDIENTS
For the kataifi base
250 gr kataifi pastry
100 gr melted butter
100 gr toasted and chopped almonds, skin on
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp clove powder
For the syrup
400 gr water
400 gr sugar
lemon rind
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
For the creme patisserie
1 L milk
200 gr sugar
120 gr plain flour
4 eggs
40 gr butter
vanilla
For the whipping cream
300 ml double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
vanilla
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1
For the syrup: Add the water,lemon rind, sugar, cloves and cinnamon in a pan. Bring to the boil. As soon as it starts boiling wait 3 more minutes and remove from the heat. Let it cool completely.
Step 2
For the base: Remove the pastry from it’s package and start separating it gently with your hands making sure there are no chunks of pastry stuck together. Place it in a square baking tray and sprinkle the melted butter on top. Bake in a pre heated oven at 180°C for 20 minutes or until nicely golden. Remove from the oven. Add the chopped almonds in a bowl and mix in the cinnamon and cloves powder. Sprinkle them on the pastry (reserving some for the final decoration) and immediately pour the syrup on top. Let it soak it all up and place the kataifi base in the fridge.
Step 3
For the creme patisserie: Pour the milk in a pan and let it warm up. Meanwhile, add the flour, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and mix to create a paste. Once the milk has warmed up, with a ladle add a spoonful of milk in the bowl and mix it with the flour paste. Add another and stir again. Now, take the bowl mixture and pour it back in the pan. Start whisking the mixture until it thickens and starts bubbling. Remove from the heat, beat in the butter and cover it with some clingfilm firmly on the creme and let it cool. Once cooled, remove the cling film and whisk it slightly to fluff it up.
Step 4
Add the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a mixer bowl. Whisk it on a high speed long enough to reach firm peaks.
Step 5
To assemble: Remove the kataifi base from the fridge and pour the creme patisserie on top, spreading evenly. Repeat with the whipped cream. Create lines on the top of the dessert using a fork and sprinkle the remaining chopped almonds.
♥ If you can’t find kataifi pastry in a supermarket near you (which is usually the case in England) try other Middle eastern or Pakistani shops. They will definitely have some usually frozen. If this is the case, then make sure to defrost thoroughly before making this dessert. To defrost kataifi pastry, just place it in the fridge the night before and let it defrost overnight. As kataifi pastry is basically shredded filo pastry, you want to avoid it having too much exposure with air and moisture.
If you are on a diet, I am very sorry…but this recipe is not low in calories. On the contrary, even though I don’t know how many calories each piece has, I am guessing it’s a lot, like more than hundreds…BUT a piece of this dessert really deserves a cheat day. And another and another until all the dessert is gone!
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