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Baklava

Ingredients & Tools

For baklava nests:

200g chopped pistachios

100g melted butter

1 packet fill pastry

For sugar syrup:

300g caster sugar

100g water

Crushed seeds from 7 cardamom pods

1 tbsp rosewater

1 tbsp kewda water

Tools:

Pastry brush

Spurtle or long wooden spoon

Oven proof dish

Measuring scales

Saucepan (for syrup)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C

2. Lay out one sheet of filo & brush liberally with melted butter. Place another sheet of filo on top, matching the edges as best as you can. Brush the second sheet with butter too

3. Place Spurtle or long wooden spoon handle along the long edge of the pastry and butter sandwich. Start rolling the pastry until you have two fingers of pastry left. This unrolled part will create the base of our baklava nest

4. Push the pastry to one edge of the Spurtle to create a ruffled effect. Slide the ruffled pastry caterpillar off the Spurtle and curl it around to make a circle. Make sure you keep the flap on the table to create the base.

5. Place nest into oven proof dish and repeat steps 1-4 utill all your filo is used up. Brush any left over butter over the nests and divide the pistachios evenly between the nests, pushing them in firmly. Place oven dish into the oven for 10 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, make the syrup. Bring sugar, water and crushed cardamom seeds to the boil and until sugar is fully dissolved. Take off the heat and add the rose and kewda water. Set aside

7. Take out nests from the oven after 10 minutes and brush them with the melted butter pooling in between the nests. Put back in oven for another 10 minutes until nests are golden

8. Once nests are golden, leave the nests to cool in the oven dish for about 20 mins before pouring the syrup over the baklava. Make sure to pour into the spaces between the nests so the pistachios don't flow out.

9. Leave nests to soak in the syrup for 4 hours or even overnight. Enjoy!