Baklava & Turmeric Tea

A traditional Turkish dessert, Baklava is a flaky, sweet, and sticky treat that provides a perfect compliment to turmeric tea’s bold, savory flavor.

Sofie Lie and Lucy McGehee
March 9, 2017

Baklava:    

Time: 2 ½ hours                                                                                                                       

Ingredients

1 pound defrosted phyllo dough

3 cups sugar

1 lemon

4 sticks unsalted butter

1 ¾ cups walnuts

Preparation

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Finely chop 1 ½ cups of the walnuts (or use a food processor to pulse them); leave the remaining ¼ cup to top the baklava.
  3. Slowly melt butter over the stove top.  This should take from 5 to 15 minutes to prevent burning.
  4. Brush a 9×13 inch pan with a bit of the melted butter.
  5. Unroll the phyllo dough and cut the edges using kitchen scissors so that it fits inside the 9×13 pan.  Cover the dough with a towel to keep the moisture in.
  6. Begin layering each sheet of phyllo in the pan, brushing butter between each layer.  
  7. Once half of the dough is used, evenly spread the walnuts on the phyllo, then continue to layer the other half of the phyllo until it is used up.
  8. Cut the baklava into pieces, pour remaining butter on top, and place into oven.  The baklava should bake from 40 minutes to 1 ½ hours.  To check if it’s ready, lift the corner of a piece of baklava to see if the bottom is browned.
  9. While the baklava is baking, make the sugar syrup.  Heat the water and sugar on the stovetop until the sugar has dissolved and the consistency is syrup-like, then add the lemon juice.
  10. Once baklava is done baking, pour sugar syrup evenly over the top and let cool before serving.

Turmeric Tea:

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

½ cup water

2 black tea bags

1 tablespoon honey

2 cups milk (can be substituted for nut or soy milk)

1 cardamom pod

1 cinnamon stick

1 ½ inch piece ginger, grated

Preparation

  1. Mix water, cardamom, cinnamon, and grated ginger over the stovetop. Once ingredients have cooked for 5-10 minutes, add in the tea bags and pour in milk.
  2. Let tea simmer until ingredients are properly mixed, then remove the cardamom pod and cinnamon stick.  Add honey to taste.

adapted from nytimes.com