It’s world dessert day today! And to celebrate we are sharing our Ekmek Kataifi recipe. This is a popular Greek sweet featuring three layers of heaven- syrup drenched Kataifi (shredded pastry) on the bottom, homemade custard in the centre, and to top it off- a layer of fresh cream sprinkled with flaked almonds and pistachios!

 

Ingredients

375 x grams Kataifi (shredded pastry)

200 x grams butter, extra for greasing

For the syrup

3 x cups sugar

2 x cups water

1 x tablespoon lemon juice

1 x cinnamon stick

For the custard

6 x egg yolks

6 x cups full cream milk

1 x cup sugar

7 x tablespoons semolina

1 x tablespoon corn flour

1 x teaspoon vanilla sugar

For fresh cream

600ml thickened cream

2 x tablespoons icing sugar

1 x tablespoon pure vanilla extract

almond flakes & crushed pistachios, for garnishing

Method

– Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.

– Tear apart kataifi pastry with your hands.

– Grease baking dish with butter and spread the kataifi over the base of dish, fluffing it up as you go.

– Melt butter and pour over kataifi. Bake for 25 minutes or until a very light golden colour. 

-Take out of oven and allow to completely cool.

-In the meantime to make the syrup, add all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for around 6 minutes or until it becomes syrup like in texture.

-Once kataifi has completely cooled down, pour over syrup. 

-To make custard, place egg yolks and sugar in a heavy saucepan and mix with a hand mixer until sugar has completely dissolved. Add in the corn flour, vanilla sugar, semolina and milk. Stir well and place on low heat and cook until mixture becomes thick and creamy. Stir constantly and make sure it doesn’t boil.

-Allow custard to cool down and then pour over the layer of kataifi and allow it to completely cool.

-At this point, you can place it in the refrigerator overnight and make the fresh cream the day after.

-To make the final layer, place cream, icing sugar and vanilla into bowl and mix with hand mixer until it becomes completely thick and stiff.

-Place over cooled custard and garnish with almonds and pistachios. Place in fridge until serving. 

*Recipe and Images by IN+SIGHTS GREECE © (Copyright)