Greek Ekmek Kataifi

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.

  1. Separate the shredded filo pastry with your hands, making sure there are no knots and it fluffs up.
  2. 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.
  3. Bake for 45 minutes, turning shredded filo pastry over halfway through the baking time so that it can turn golden on both sides.
  4. When ready, remove from the oven and immediately pour the cool syrup over it with a ladle.
  5. 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.

  1. Bring to the boil then simmer on low to medium heat until the custard thickens.
  2. Pour the custard over the baked filo pastry and spread it evenly over the entire surface with a spatula.
  3. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it firms up.

Whipped cream
      In a mixer, add the chilled cream, vanilla sugar, and caster sugar.

  1. 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.