A Yemeniyah's Recipes

This is a Palestinian dessert–so I have heard– and it is befitting that i fell in love with it during my attendance to Palestine Day in Minneapolis. Palestinian or not, it is DELISH !!!

First make the sugar syrup–for this dish it needs to be a little thicker so the pastries stay nice and crunchy. I used 1 cup of sugar and 1 and a 1/4 cup of water and let them boil under medium heat for about 15 minutes. Then turn it off add a couple of drops of fresh lemon juice and a tsp of orange blossom water. Let it cool down.

For the pastries you will need:

1) half a box of fillo pastry dough (they make about 16 )

2) about a cup of Canola Oil (you can also use ghee–clarified butter–but NOT butter TRUST ME)

3) 1 and 1/2 cup of whole milk

4) 1/4 cup of fine farina (semolina)

5) 1/4 of a tsp of cornstarch

6) 1/4 cup sugar

7) tsp of orange blossom water

8) Finely ground pistachios for decoration

To make the FILLING: In a small pot add ingredients 3-6 and mix well. Place on low heat and keep on stirring (with a wooden spoon) until it thickens. Make sure you do not leave unattended as it will burn from the bottom or form lumps which you DEFINITELY don’t want. Once it thickens–a little looser than ricotta cheese–turn off –add the Orangel Blossom water, mix in well and pour onto a plate and let it cool.

Open up the packet of fillo pastry dough and cover with a damp cloth so it does not dry out. On the working surface take one rectangle of the fillo dough and lay it on the surface (cover up the rest) and brush it with the canola oil–BRUSH WELL, COVER IT ENTIRELY. Keep on doing that until you have ten layers. The tenth layer leave un brushed.

Taking a pizza cutter cut the dough first lengthwise into four columns and then widthwise to make 8 squares. Spoon some of the filling onto each square and fold to make triangles.

Arrange them on a baking dish and brush with more of the canola oil and place in a preheated oven at 375 degree fahrenheit until golden in color–about half an hour.

Take them out of the oven, drizzle the sugar syrup mixture–all, a little depending on how SWEET OF A TOOTH you have. Wait for it to soak in and then decorate with the ground pistachio. I USUALLY POP IT BACK IN THE OVEN (that is turned off now) for so they stay nice and warm. They are DELISH while they are still warm.

ENJOY !