One summer while in Greece I had the pleasure of also visiting Constantinople (Istanbul) for a second time. Prior to heading to this huge foodie destination, I knew (and wanted) to sample the many desserts and sweets that were on offer. This post is more about a dessert that’s taken another form from it’s original one, Ekmek Kataifi.
In Turkey, the dessert is simply Ekmek, a bread pudding soaked in syrup and topped with Kaimak (Kaimaki), a sweetened clotted cream. The Greek take on this dessert consists of a kataifi pastry base/bottom, a semolina cream center and a topping of whipped cream. Toasted almonds or chopped pistachios are usually the crowning glory…oh nuts & joy!
Kataifi pastry (also called Kataifi phyllo) is looks like vermicelli or shredded wheat. It’s sold in Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern stores and I even saw it sold at a Loblaws Superstore! Kaitaifi pastry is made by drizzling rows of thin streams of flour and water batter on to a revolving hot platter. They dry into strands on wire-thin pastry. This other type of “phyllo” is popular from Greece to the Levant and it usually appears in desserts and now appearing more often in savory dishes. Just last week I made a Kunefe and last year I made the classic Kataifi (similar to Baklava).
Watch this Turkish dude make Kataifi pastry:
Pretty cool, eh? No worries, this recipe doesn’t require you to make your own kataifi. What you will have to do is defrost the kataifi overnight in your fridge as soon as you’re ready to make the dessert, take the Kataifi out of the fridge for 1o minutes to come to room temperature. The first thing that should be made for this dessert is the syrup. Just like with Baklava and other syrupy desserts featuring phyllo, either the pastry has be cold/syrup hot OR pastry hot/syrup cold. In this case, the logical approach to this recipe is making the syrup first, allowing it to cool to room temperature and then pouring it over the just out of the oven hot kataifi.
The center of the dessert is a custard made with a semolina flour base and some corn starch. There’s sugar, shredded coconut and the wonderful and aromatic spice called Mastic (or mastiha, Masticha, mastika). Mastic (Mastiha in Greek) comes from the island of Chios and it is exclusively produced in the 24 villages on the southern part of the island.
Mastiha does grown on other parts of the world but as my friend (and mastiha expert) Artemis points out,
“the resin from these specific trees has a distinct aroma, color and importantly, antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties not found in the other resins. In fact, the trees in this portion of Chios have been given “var. Chia” as their scientific variety name because of their production of this unique resin.”
Mastiha most commonly appears in the form of tears, little off-white nuggets that from the harvested resin of the Mastic trees. Mastic often appears in the breads, the Greek Easter bread (Tsoureki), custards and many desserts. Mastiha can also be found in some inventive savory dishes.
The recipe I’ve decided to go with is flavoured mildly with ground mastiha. I placed some mastiha in the freezer and after a half-hour or so I take them out, place them between two pieces of plastic cling-film and crush with a rolling pin. I then carefully scoop the ground mastiha with an offset spatula and use it in my recipe. The custard is very easy and as soon as it cools, it’s placed on top of the cooled kataifi base and then allowed to set and ultimately placed in the fridge.
The cream center and kataifi base require at least 3-4 hours in the fridge to set – overnight would be best. The next day, Loosen the sides with a knife, invert onto a platter and then revert (cream-side up) onto to your serving/presentation dish. The last step is to simply whip your cream and top your dessert. The flavouring of the whipped cream is icing sugar and some vanilla extract. I’ve also experimented with adding some powdered milk as a stabilizer to the whipped cream – I am very happy with the results!
I know the photos have already sold you on this dessert, you know where to buy kataifi pastry, you can make a basic custard and you can even order mastiha and have it mailed to your kitchen doorstep but what does this dessert taste like? Think a slightly soft yet crisp kaitaifi base just hints of the syrup that permeated the just hot-out-of-the-oven pastry. The creamy custard with the aroma of mastiha and its unique flavour, bites of shredded coconut for a natural sweetness and finally, the soft, pillowy whipped cream rosettes that are topped with the chopped pistachios.
Ekmek Kataifi
(serves 12)
- The night before, place your frozen kataifi pastry in the fridge and allow to thaw overnight. You may make the syrup the night before or a couple of hours prior to making baking the kataifi base. To make the syrup, add the water, sugar and the lemon peel and bring to a boil. Once aboil, reduce to medium and simmer for 8 minutes. Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 lemon, take off the heat and allow to cool. Reserve.
- Take the kataifi pastry out of your fridge and untangle the pastry with your hands and place in a bowl. Pour the melted butter over the kataifi and toss with your hands to ensure the butter has coated all of the pastry. Grease your pan with butter and lay the kataifi on the loaf pan’s base. Pre-heat your oven to 350F and place the kataifi in the oven (middle rack) for 30 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven while still hot, pour your cold (room temp.) syrup over the kataifi with a ladle. Allow to cool.
- In the meantime, add your milk and ground mastiha into a medium-sized pot over medium heat until your milk is just scalding. In large bowl, add your eggs, semolina, corn starch and sugar and whisk until creamed together. Stir with the whisk in one hand and slowly ladle into the bowl 2-3 ladles of the scalded milk (this is called tempering). Now pour the tempered custard mixture into the remaining milk in the pot and turn the heat to medium and stir until the mixture has thickened to a custard consistency. Remove from the heat, place plastic over the custard so a crust doesn’t form and allow to cool.
- As soon as the custard has cooled (your kataifi base will have cooled by now as well), pour the custard over the kataifi base and spread it out evenly. Allow to cool naturally at room temperature and then place in the fridge for at least 4 hours to set or overnight.
- In a clean bowl, add the vanilla extract and your cream and use your hand mixer to whip it up. Gradually add the icing sugar and just as you see your whipped cream about to hit the still peaks stage, sprinkle the powdered milk and continue to mix until stiff peaks are formed. Place your whipped cream in a piping bag with a star a “star tip” and pipe out rosettes on top of the custard. Top with pistachios or almonds in and sprinkle over the whipped cream. Serve immediately or place in the fridge until ready to serve.
*Mastiha furnished by Kolonaki Group Fine Foods
32 Responses
I’d like to place my order for one with Almonds, please. :) Do you take cash, cheque or credit? I can pay you in decadent brownies with chocolate sauce. ;)
Beautiful dessert Peter!
I like to use rice flour instead of semolina. If a recipe calls for semolina can I substitute the equal amount of rice flour?
Shelly, rice flour behaves much like corn starch…you can try it out…and ler me know how it turns out. I can add a note to the recipe if it works out well.
That is flipping gorgeous!
One of my favorite desserts!
Cheers,
Rosa
It is absolutely decadent. I’ve had kataifi but never made them at home. I will give this recipe a try soon!
Looks great! When I made my version a few months ago I loved the addition of mastiha to the custard (something I hadn’t done before then). This is one of my favorite desserts. I will look into that cookbook by Sofia Skoura as I have never seen it. Hopping over to Amazon right now though if it is in Greek it likely won’t be there.
Love these treats@
It looks absolutely amazing this dessert. My husband is Turkish and would die for this dessert. He loves anything with ‘kataifi’. I live in GTA and we found one amazing bakery in the Keele and Wilson area. It’s run by a Turkish baker and his desserts and baklava are to die for. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Peter, WOW! This is so good. The custard alone makes me drool! Yumm! I was just telling my husband houw much i loved Greece and that next time we go we must visit its neighbours!
Oh my! You’ve really outdone yourself with this one Peter! This has a combination of all my favourite flavours…thank you!
Fantastic how this pastry is made by hand. I had seen that once in a show with Mamalakis.
Υπέροχη συνταγή, υπεροχη εμφάνιση,υπέροχη παρουσίαση. Αν είχα κανταΐφι θα το έφτιαχνα σήμερα!
I adore this dessert!! It is absolutely decadent!!
In searching for recipes for pumpkin I recently found a recipe using the shredded filo. I remember the honey laden desserts in Greece using this delicacy but have never attempted it myself. Your dessert is a showstopper Peter.
This is so amazing, Peter. That video is pretty cool and the whole dessert is intriguing but looks and sounds so delicious. I love when you make desserts!
Your version looks soooo much better then the one you shot in istanbul Peter! Difference of day and night and it does look and sound incredibly delicious!
Now this is a thing of beauty – fantastic!
Wow, what a wonderfully flavorful dessert!
you know i love it when you do greek desserts. and this is just fabulous. i mean the textures alone are perfect. i think i could pull of this dessert. i do have a lot of pistachios on hand, as always.
Great version of a classic. I would like to make a Turkish kataifi too though, or Politiko as it is called in Greece!
I must be blind or missing something, could you tell me when and where I add the coconut.
Thanks, can’t wait to give this a go.
Heavenly I am sure! I am going to try your tip with the powdered milk and as far as the recipe, will pass it along!
Hi,
First of all great site i really enjoy reading your writings. But just to inform, there are three types of kadayıf (kataifi) in Turkey. One is tel kadayıf and the other one is ekmek kadayıfı ( And there is the yassi kadayıf very different form these two). Tel kadayıf is the stringy one and the ekmek kadayıf is the bread like one. Tel kadayıf is prepared in more than dozen ways and greek version is one of the ways but not very popular. Mostly it is baked with butter and sweetened with very heavy and sweet sugar syrup. A Very old ottoman recipe calls for lightly baked telkadayif sweetened with sugar and milk and served with kaymak ( old residents of istanbul like this version) . Eastern and western traditions vary. But there is the kunefe, t,el kadayıf baked with a special Cheese and then Served with heavy sugar syrup.
Best,
I just made this today for Easter and it was so enjoyable! A very refreshing dessert. Thank you Peter!
You’re welcome Areti. Xpistos Anesti!
Hi Peter! I’ve made so many of your recipes but have not had a question until now. I made this ekmek as a practice before Easter and it’s amazing! It has the most authentic flavor of any English language ekmek recipes. My question is, is it possible to double (or even x1.5) the custard layer simply by doubling the ingredients, or should I modify further? Thank you Peter!
Hi Evie, that’s great to hear…thank you! Of course you can double butjust be careful with the dimensions of the pans so that it corresponds with the doubled recipe.