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Katerina's Kouzina

Kataifi

Ode to my mother in law

I don't know about you and whether you are as lucky as me, but I have a wonderful mother in law, who is also a wonderful cook!

My mother in law is Albanian, she came to Greece with her husband, a young daughter and a baby in her hands for a safer and more stable future. This is now 30 years ago. The baby she had in her hands is now my husband!! You can imagine that even as you leave a place for the better there will always be things that you will miss. One of those things is most likely food, the smells and taste of foods will always remind you of home.

She tries to keep up with Albanian cooking traditions, but she has also adapted some Greek ones. Greek and Albanian cuisine are actually not that far apart. Both countries are balkan countries but I think she has married both cuisines quite well and the delicious dishes she cooks resemble both traditions!

The favorite dishes of her and my father in law are by far the sweet desserts. For as long as I know her, and that is more than 10 years now, she always asks each and every one of us what we would like for food and for dessert. “Us” in this case consists of her husband, two children with their spouses and 2 grandchildren, a total of 8 persons. Every year she will make the biggest, most elaborate meals for us. Following Albanian and Greek tradition she always cooks for at least 20 persons, even though we are not even the half in numbers. At the end of the dinner there is always a whole baking tray of desserts, a whole personal baking tray for each and every one of us.

For me she always makes kataifi, and not a little tray like in my pictures, but a big tray.

Kataifi is light, crunchy and soft. The taste reminds you of Christmas as it has cinnamon and clove inside and every bite is a little bite of heaven, especially when it's still warm. Kataifi is made from light strings of filo- similar to angel hair. When you use it and have it on your hands,you pull the strings apart, add lots of butter and your filling, making little rolls. You bake it in the oven and add your syrup while it's still hot. It's not difficult to make but it's a recipe that requires a lot of love to go in while preparing in order for it to taste good.

Kataifi is one of those desserts that stays good for days (thank god) because it's syrup based.The recipe below is for a small amount. You can of course double or triple the amount, in case you want to make a big baking tray like my mother in law.

To my mother in law Christina for raising a wonderful son, who is an amazing husband. Thank you for always making me feel welcome, for directly accepting me as part of the family and for every warm hug and kiss I get as soon as I enter your door!

I hope everyone will enjoy this recipe!

Please do not ask me if kataifi is Greek or Turkish or from which country it originated, please just enjoy eating it. Having said that, if you would ask my mother, I am sure she would say that kataifi is Greek!

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Kataifi

Ingredients

250 gr. / 9 oz. of butter
200 gr. / 14 oz. of walnuts, chopped finely
100 gr. / 3,5 oz. of sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
250 gr. / 17,5 oz. kataifi

Syrup

100 gr. / 3,5 oz. honey
2 tsp lemon juice
250 ml. / 8,5 fl. oz. water
1 cinnamon stick
200 gr. / 7 oz. sugar

Preparation

1. Melt the butter and use a little in order to lightly grease a small baking pan.

2. To make the filling, put the walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and cloves in a bowl and mix well.

3.Take your kataifi and start slowly pulling it apart and make long lines/sheets of it like shown in the pictures.

4. Brush each sheet with melted butter, add your filling and start rolling. You fold the sides a little in the beginning so you don't lose any of that filling.

5. Once you have rolled every single one of them and have neatly added them to you baking tray (they need to sit nice and tight) you add the leftover butter on top ( if there is no butter left, no problem just melt a little extra butter, there can never be too much).

6. Bake in a preheated oven at 225 C / 425 F for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180 C / 350 F and bake for 20 minutes more, until golden brown. Leave to cool.

7. Make the honey syrup. Put the honey water and lemon juice into a small saucepan; simmer for about 8 minutes. When the pastry is cooled, remove from the oven and evenly pour the honey syrup over the pastry. Leave to cool (the pastry will absorb all of the syrup).

Note: If the syrup is hot then the kataifi has to be cold before pouring it over.

Servings : 6-8 people
Ready in : 60 Minutes
Recipe Type : Christmas

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