Twisted Baklava: Vegan Burma Kadayıf Recipe
Burma Kadayıf is a delicious pastry formed from twisted shredded pastry, almonds, and syrup. This stunning vegan delight only requires six ingredients and can be prepared in one pan.
What is Burma Kadayıf?
Burma Kadayıf is a circular sweet pastry popular in Turkish cuisine. Unlike baklava, 'kadayıf' or 'kataifi' is a type of shredded phyllo pastry, not layers. The word 'burma' means 'twisting' in Turkish, and it relates to how the noodle-shaped pastry is twisted around the nuts. Burma Kadayıf can be provided in thin slices or long tubes for home cooking.
How is the Vegan Burma Kadayıf made?
Commercial bakeries offer fresh Kadayıf pastry, although it can also be purchased frozen. The dough is firmly rolled around crushed nuts to form a tube shape. It is often cooked in a big pan over an open flame. It can also be deep fried. Once cooked, it is steeped in syrup before being served in pieces.
Servings: 12 yield(s)
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Total Time: 55 mins
Ingredients:
250 g kadayıf (shredded phyllo pastry)
200 g pistachios
7 g vegan butter
150 ml oil
For the syrup:
250 g sugar
200 ml water
1 tbsp lemon juice
Equipment:
deep frying pan
saucepan
Blender (optional)
Plate (that is the same size as the frying pan)
Wooden spoon
Recipe by: Vegan Middle East
Instructions
Prepare kadayıf ahead of time. If it's frozen, thaw it the day before storing it in the package. Wrap the unsealed packet in a moist tea towel to prevent the pastry from drying out. This is especially critical in this recipe, since you will need to roll the lengthy strands without them snapping.
Place the water, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 3 minutes, then remove from heat and cool. When the pastry is finished, the syrup should have cooled.
Grease a frying pan with vegan butter. Chop the nuts into bits, either by hand or using a blender.
Remove the kadayıf from the packet and look for folds in the strands. Divide the pastry into flat slices (10cm wide) with many threads. To release strands that are stuck together, gently brush them between your fingers. Position one section so that one end has a fold and the other has loose ends. Sprinkle pistachios around the center of the pastry. Leave a 1cm gap at the edges. Pull the folded end in and over the nuts, and then slowly roll the pastry diagonally to form a twisted tube. To roll the pastry, use one hand to flip the initial end and the other to ensure no gaps occur. Once you've twisted the pastry tube, pick up both ends and arrange them around the edge of the buttered frying pan. Twist the pastry until it forms one huge spiral in the pan. One will begin where the previous one finished. Keep a small amount of pistachios for decoration later.
Use the bottom of a cup to press down the pastry and tuck any loose ends. Place the pan on low heat and pour 100ml of oil over the pastry. Move the pan to evenly distribute the heat from the flame. After 20 minutes, gently pull up chunks with a knife to see if they are brown below. Continue cooking any sections that are not brown. Once uniformly cooked, place a plate on top of the pan and turn it upside down. Remove burnt crumbs from the pan and gently slide the pastry from the dish to the pan. Cook the second side with the remaining 50ml of oil in the same manner.
Once cooked, pour the syrup over the pastry. After a few minutes, serve the Burma Kadayıfı in 10-cm pieces and garnish with pistachios.
Enjoy