Truly authentic!!!
Delicious Middle Eastern dessert, Crispy Baked baklawa dough stuffed with Ashta cream, coated with rose syrup & topped with crushed pistachio.
Actually, this Sh’aibiyat is soaked with more Sugar syrup. But here, I poured only less sugar syrup. 😉
Ingredients
1 pack Phyllo Sheets, Thawed ( you can also use white / brown bread)
Melted Butter/ ghee/ Margarine (apply on phyllo sheets)
Sealing paste made from flour and water (if you r using bread, to seal)
Oil to deep fry
1/4 cup pistachios, roughly crushed to garnish
For the Cream filling
1 cup whole milk
1 cup whipping cream (or any cream that you have on hand)
3 slices slices white bread, edges trimmed off ( I used brown bread)
2 tbsp cornstarch/cornflour or custard powder, dissolved in 1/4 cup water
***Trim the edges off the 3 bread slices (white/ brown ) and tear up the bread into small cubes. Put these in a bowl. Pour the cream and milk over the bread and mix. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour just to help the bread soak and soften some more.
Put the milky bread mixture into a pan, place on medium heat, keep stirring. Once it begins heating up add the cornflour/water mixture and continue stirring until the ashta thickens. Turn off the heat, transfer the ashta into a bowl and allow to cool, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed. It will continue thickening as it cools.
(I used brown bread to soak, thats why its showing brown dots here and there in the Ashta Cream. If its white bread shows clearly white cream. 🙂 )
Ashta Cream is Ready!
For the Syrup
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp orange blossom water or a few saffron strands
1/2 tsp rose water or vanilla essence
***For the syrup, cook all the ingredients together, bring to a boil, add lemon juice, few strands of saffron/ orange blossom and let it keep simmering for about 10 minutes until it becomes slightly thick, sticky, like syrup. Finally add the flavourings (rose water/ vanilla) of your choice and turn off the heat.
Method of Assembling
Preheat oven 400 degree. (Bake/ Deep fry )
***If you are using Phyllo Sheets, make sure phyllo dough is thawed out (but still in package)
get a damp towel to keep dough covered. Take 2 or 3 sheets of dough, and “paint” with butter, then cut into 3 strips
Ready made dough leaves, fillo, phyllo
Method of folding the phyllo sheets
Place a spoonful of Cream on the end of it and fold the dough over, then continue to fold (side to side) so it makes a triangle shape.
Bake/ Deep fry the foldings, Cook for about 15 minutes until golden. Pour the sugar syrup ( Lightly warmed- not too hot) over the pastry once it is finished cooking. You can serve these either at room temperature or cold from the fridge. Drizzle a bit more syrup and scatter the crushed pistachios.
If you are using White/Brown bread;
Trim the edges of each bread slice and flatten it out using a rolling pin. Apply the sealing paste on both of the long sides and on one of the shorter sides of the slice. Add about half a tablespoon of the ashta/filling near the remaining short side of the slice and then gently roll and seal. You can dip your fingertips in a bit of water and press the edges to make sure it is properly sealed. Do not put too much filling or else it will end up oozing out or leaking during shaping or frying. Set aside on a tray. Keep going until all are done.
Cover the tray with cling film and put the pastries in the freezer for at least 2 hours to solidify. This helps ensure the bread dries up a little thereby it will soak less oil during frying.
When ready to deep fry, warm the syrup lightly (not too hot, just warm) and have it ready. Heat the oil, then add the rolls a few at a time, seal side down at first. Careful not to burn them as bread will turn colour fast and do not fry at too low heat as they would suck up a lot of oil, so keep the oil temperature at medium high.
Fry and turn them around until they are golden on both sides. Remove on to kitchen towels to drain off the excess oil for a few minutes. Then dip each roll into the warm syrup, turning to ensure each side is well coated and some of the syrup gets absorbed into the pastries. Remove on to a wire rack so the excess syrup drips off.
On serving, remember to drizzle a bit more syrup and scatter the crushed pistachios over them. You can serve these either at room temperature or cold from the fridge.
D' food couture 