Black Orchid wrote on Jul 19
th, 2015 at 12:55pm:
Got any easy Ekmek Kataifi recipes? I have made the Lebanese version.
I did say easy but ok I will do it for you BO, from a cook book called Greek Cuisine by Sophia Skoyra & Fitrakis.
KATAIFIMain ingredients1 1/4 kg of Kataifi filo
4 cups of crushed armonds
1 1/2 cups butter
1 tea spoon cinnamon
2 eggs
4 table spoons sugar
For the syrup1 1/2kg sugar - Book (wife says 1kg good enough)
5 cups of water
1 lemon rind
1 tea spoon of lemon
Instructions1. Soak the almonds in boiler water to remove the skin, then put them in the food processor and crush them thick not too thin. Then put them in a bowl and mix with sugar, cinnamon and the eggs.
2a. Take a little bit of kataifi filo pulling it lightly with your fingers to open it up, open on a wooden board in the shape of a rectangle with the width roughly the width of the finished kataifi.
2b. If you open up the whole kataifi filo making a big square or rectangle then put the mixture to one side and roll, then cut into size pieces required, easier I guess.
3. On one of the smaller sides of the kataifi filo place a table spoon of the almond mixture and roll this filo into a cylinder, roll tight at first so the filo contains the ingredients. Do this until all the filo and almonds have been used, you should have many pieces. see 2b above.
4. Place these pieces in a buttered tray. Melt some butter and pour one table spoon on each of these cylindrical pieces.
5. Place this tray in oven and cook for 30 minutes at about 180C.
6. While they're cooking get the syrup ready by mixing the water and the sugar and then boiling with the lemon rind for about 5 to 10 minutes, then add the juice of the lemon and boil for another 2 to 3 minutes, boil until the syrup is not too runny.
7. As soon as the kataifi comes out of the oven pour the syrup over the cylindrical pieces.
8. Cover the tray with the kataifi on it with a tea towel and let the kataifi soak up the syrup until it cools right down.
NOTE! Don't let the cylindrical pieces touch each other or they will not cook on the sides, leave a small space between them on the tray or they become too soggy.
Happy cooking.