Well, hello there! I almost burst out laughing today when a girl told us that she bought a phone to impress people who think her phone is outdated. Our immediate reaction was, “So, you are shelling all that money to buy a phone which you really do not need and to impress a set of people who doesn’t like you and whom you don’t like?” Well, this folks, then, is a much cheaper alternative which will never have upgrade issues. You want to put some sweet in bitter tongues? Say it with Baklava.
Please let us humor this!
Why is a Baklava better than a new phone:
1. Many OEM = No competition. Every make is therefore unique.
2. It costs maybe 1/1,000th of what a phone does.
3. It doesn’t make your pocket light and shoulders heavy.
4. It can never have version 2/3/4/5/6, which calls for selling your old dog maybe. It remains Baklava and only Baklava.
5. It spreads sweetness, not envy.
6. You can almost never lose a Baklava.
7. No one will ever steal your Baklava.
8. Holding a Baklava near you for a long time doesn’t give you Cancer.
9. If you take out your anger on a Baklava, you suffer immensely because its irreplaceable.
10. If you forget your Baklava at someone else’s place, your mother/husband/boyfriend won’t mind.
Okay, we have many more, but tell us: are you convinced? You have to be. I mean, come on, a spoonful of hot, homemade Baklava beats an expensive phone by lengths. In a shallow world like this, dig a bit deeper in sugar syrup and give in to sensory joys for once and leave your phone and people-related worries at home.
Baklava
Time taken: 40 min
Taste-o-meter: Sweet
Ingredients:
- Phyllo sheets, cut in squares: about 14-16
- Melted, unsalted butter: about 3 tbsp
- Crushed dry fruits (almonds, peanuts and pistachios): 2 tbsp (you can crush and keep, and it’ll stay for months)
- Caster sugar/confectioners sugar: 2 tbsp
- Plain sugar: 1/2 cup
- Saffron: a pinch + a pinch for garnishing
- Cinnamon/nutmeg/clove (CNC): a pinch
Method:
- You’ll start by buttering the cup and dividing the phyllo sheets in two equal halves. If you have taken 16 sheets, keep eight for the base and eight for the covering.
- Next, mix the dry fruit crush, CNC and caster sugar and keep aside.
- In a saucepan, add 1/2 cup plain sugar and 1/2 cup water with a pinch of saffron. Keep it to boil while you prepare your phyllo base.
- To make the base, stack sheets of phyllo in the cup by brushing each one with melted butter. You can simply place one on top of the other or go around the cup for a round-shaped Baklava. Upto you really! Use all the eight sheets. Brush the top with melted butter.
- Pour-in the dry fruit mixture, a pinch of saffron and stack the other half of phyllo: exactly how you’ve for the base.
- Brush the top with milk (or egg wash).
- Preheat at 300C and bake at 180C for about 15 min, or until the top is beautifully golden.
- While your Baklava is baking, check on your sugar syrup. It should not be too thick, not too runny either. To know if it’s of the right consistency, do the thread test. Put a drop of the sugar syrup on a cold surface and see whether its sticky but doesn’t form a thread between your finger and the surface. Alternately, touch the syrup with a clean forefinger and then touch your thumb and forefinger together and pull apart gently.
- Put on your mittens, take the cup out and pour the saffron-laden sugar syrup on it.