Greek Ekmek Kataifi
Recipe for a delicious Greek Ekmek Kataifi. It is a layered cake that starts with fillo pastry layer at the bottom which has walnuts mixed in and a sugar syrup drenched over it, followed by a custard layer, and then finally a whipped cream layer which is finished off with some more crushed walnuts.
Yes, it will take some time to make this. You will need a couple of hours to complete all the steps in the process. Each layer needs to be completed before continuing onto the next one.
Ingredients
1 packet shredded filo pastry
150 g butter, melted
1/2 cup walnuts crushed slightly
Syrup
3.5 cups caster sugar
4 cups water
1 cinnamon quill
3 cloves, whole
½ lemon juiced
Custard
1 Litre milk
2 tablespoons custard powder
1 packet vanilla sugar
8 tablespoons cornflour
1 cup caster sugar
Topping
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon caster sugar
500 g thickened cream, chilled
3/4 cup walnuts crushed
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Preparation
Syrup
For the syrup, combine sugar, cinnamon, clove, and water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve. Once the syrup reaches boiling point, boil for 6 minutes. Add the lemon juice.
Boil for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat, disregard the cinnamon quill and cloves, and set aside.
Pastry
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
- Separate the shredded filo pastry with your hands, making sure there are no knots and it fluffs up.
- Grease a baking pan with butter and spread 1/3 of the filo pastry. Drizzle with 1/3 of the butter and some of the walnuts. Repeat the same process twice more, until all of the filo pastry, butter and walnuts have been used.
- Bake for 45 minutes, turning shredded filo pastry over halfway through the baking time so that it can turn golden on both sides.
- When ready, remove from the oven and immediately pour the cool syrup over it with a ladle.
- Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the pastry to soak up all of the syrup.
Custard
Add a little of the milk to the custard powder and cornflour to form a paste. Warm the milk, sugar, and vanilla in a saucepan and add the paste.
- Bring to the boil then simmer on low to medium heat until the custard thickens.
- Pour the custard over the baked filo pastry and spread it evenly over the entire surface with a spatula.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it firms up.
Whipped cream
In a mixer, add the chilled cream, vanilla sugar, and caster sugar.
- Beat on high speed for a few minutes, until you create a whipped cream has formed stiff peaks.
Assemble Ekmek Kataifi Recipe
Remove the kataifi from the refrigerator and spread the whipped cream all over it with a spatula.
Run the backside of a fork over the whole surface to create lines in the whipped cream. Sprinkle with crushed walnut and cinnamon and serve.
