this box of delightful sweets contains 'baklava', a sweet pastry dessert of the middle east. mr. khairul bought a few boxes during his recent trip to syria.
now, a well-made baklava should taste sweet, of course but not too sweet! i've tasted the ones bought in dubai hypermart and they were too super-sweet for my tastebuds!
in the olden days, baklava was baked only on special occasions and was considered a food for the rich until mid-19th century!
this particular box contained assorted baklava :
baklava is basically made of paper-thin layers of pastry called 'fillo dough', with chopped nuts in between, and sweetened with sugar syrup or honey. the nuts could be almond or cashew - but this one has pistachio!
the fillo dough gives baklava a crispy taste, with flaky texture. it's slightly chewy, slightly crunchy - with a rich pistachio taste.
notice the one yang macam sarang burung on the right?there are a few types of baklava.
my favorite is the 'bird nest baklava' - well, the one that looks like a bird's nest! it has a thin, shredded fillo dough made to look like a nest, with little pistachio nuts placed in the middle like eggs. really cute, and really tasty. also, because it's the least chewy!
my other favorite is the lady's finger baklava - the one that looks like our popiah.
other type includes 'the pistachio ballourieh' - shredded fillo with a weird bitter taste that i didn't like. it's the one next to the bird's nest baklava. tak best sangat because it's also the most chewy, and has more pistachio - which breaks my perfect-nut-pastry-ratio rule!
the one below is 'the burma baklava' - pistachio wrapped in shredded fillo dough. this one taste slightly like the bird's nest baklava but more chewy.
to sum up - i'm not much of a nut fan, so baklava is just *okay* for me.
even when it comes to chocolates, i prefer those wafer-based ones like time-out or kinder bueno. since one of baklava's prime ingredients is pistachio, i'm not too crazy about it - nevertheless, it's a delicious, sweet indulgent tidbits to enjoy once in awhile.
being little and bite-sized sure do help!
* * *
oh, also - it's interesting to note that the two major ingredients of baklava - the pistachio and honey - were believed to be aphrodisiacs.
*wink wink*!
14 comments:
pheewww.kat msia, mahal.teringat kalu kat melbourne, each time gi brunswick sure singgah beli baklava buat kudap2 mkn kat hall.
baklava is a bit beyong my sweetness threshold.. but my mom LOVES it..
HEAVENLY!! that's all i can say. LOVED baklava so much!! i prefer the one from VIVEL patisserie the best ever! but costly. tapi tulah makan tak bole banyak2, jadik 'tong rum' plak nnti! :)
>> kak arin, kat msia xpenah lansung makan. melb pon! kat dubai ni la first time ;)
>> yah, hidayah - my 1st try, the brand of baklava was toooooo sweet. but this one menepati my piawaian hihi ;) just nice.
fairus, i xla slalu makan smapai ade fav brand hihii but this one is ok enough. not too sweet. is vivel patisserie available kat hypermart? or kat wafi gourmet? ;)
VIVEL is a pastry shop. u can find in jumera beach road, in madinat jumeirah, coming soon in DUbai Mall. ade banyak lagi actually i tak sure kat mana. but mmg ade different la yg regular kat carrefour and the real pastry shop.
jgn tak tau i mmg NUTS, about them!
What????? Not much of a nut fan? Laaaa lagi satu reason we can't be roommates...huhuhu... takpe lah Syigim, nasib baik dah ada roommate sendirikan...cuma your pillow tu asyik travel saja...:))
btw...I love baklava. Masa kat US dulu my mak angkat Chris (she's a filipino...mak angkat & officemate) tapi pandai buat baklava and I lah yg tukang dok makannya...
eh aphrodisiacs??
yg selama i ni i thot pistachio adalah kacang cerdik, bagus utk budak2 makan!
hehehe.. pistachio kat sini considered mahal kan..mana nk cari yg murah and dlm kuantiti yg byk?
kalau i beli yg pack kacang biasa tu kat petronas mesra, mesti budak2 petronas bangla tu tegur, kakak..kakak beli kacang mahal aaa..
:)
>> ica, pillow i baru balik smlm hihi..
best gile bole buat baklava sendiri! bole la kontrol tahap manis dia ;)
>> yus, i terbaca kat net psl pistachio in baklava ni...hihi..
ye ke mahal? i ni bukan jenis minat beli kacang2 ni. masa skolah beli kacang putih kat kantin tu biase lah. hihi...
fairus, definitely gonna check it out. looks like khairul yg lagi minat baklava ni. bole la try :)
Syigim,..i lurrveee baklava! tapi kat sini mahal la..huhu
nia, betul ke mahal. mahal camne tu. sbb selama kat msia xtau pun baklava tu ape hahahah..dah smpai dubai br tau :P
takleh imagine la camne rasa beklava nih...
cik strawberi, bayangkan je ala2 kulit popiah nipisssss & rapuh, dlm tu ade pistachio salut ngan honey. camtu la rasa dia hihi :)
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