500 ml full milk
100 gr. sugar
2 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
40 gr. cornstarch
100 gr. butter
50 gr. white chocolate
zest of half an orange
- On 09 July 2024
- In Desserts Recipes
- Cook Time: 220 Minutes
- Difficulty Level: Medium
Ekmek bites
Hello again, I am very excited to introduce you to two new things, one is my new friend Rhiannon and the second is this beautiful sweet that goes by the name “ekmek”.
I'll start with Rhiannon, I met Rhiannon in a Cooking class that I gave and it was so so so fun having her. Rhiannon is a Kiwi, not the fruit but a native New Zealander. In case you have read all our blogs, my mom also has a kiwi friend, called Al. Anyway back to Rhiannon, we hit it off straight away with the lesson and when we got to talking she mentioned that she is a lifestyle and food influencer, so I immediately said let's do a collaboration!
She had to continue her travels through Europe but she found a little gap and flew all the way back to Greece to create some amazing new dishes with me. The next couple of blogs will be the things we have created together.
In the cooking class I gave, we made many many delicious things but one thing I always made was our Bougatsa. Every time I make Bougatsa I say that it's a very versatile recipe and you can make multiple desserts with this one custard recipe.
I wanted to show one of those many recipes and I picked Ekmek simply because it's my favorite one. For me Ekmek has everything, it is sweet but not too sweet, it is light and fresh, but still full in flavor and very comforting and most of all very very GREEK.
Ekmek is 1 part kataifi, 1 part custard, 1 part whipped cream topped with pistachios lined in a “tapsi” (greek baking tray). I love Ekmek the most when it’s fresh, which means that the kataifi is super nice and crunchy. While writing down the recipe I thought why not turn it into “Ekmek Bites”. In this way it is crunchy every single time.
However when I was actually making what I had in my mind, we had lots of delicious things laying around. Some of which I may or may not have added to the final sweet, you will recognize this in the recipe.
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Ingredients
For the custard:
For the 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
Whipped cream:
500 gr of cream
2 table sp of caster sugar
50 gr pistachios
Instructions
1. We start by making the crème pâtissière. Pour the milk into a large and heavy saucepan, add in the orange zest and bring it to a boil over medium heat.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, the sugar, the vanilla and the eggs.
3. When the milk and cream almost come to a boil, gradually add 1/3 of it to the egg mixture, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Empty the ingredients of the bowl back to the saucepan and cook stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and comes to a full boil. Mix the butter in at that point, by whisking vigorously you may also add the chocolate at this point. Remove the pan from the heat, and set it aside. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours to chill completely.
4. Preheat oven to 180* C.
5. Butter your muffin tray.
6. Pull your kataifi apart, once you have done this try to make little bird nests out of the kataifi and lay them in a muffin tray if you have one.
7. Add a little melted butter to your kataifi nests and bake them in the oven for 5-10 min on 180 C or till golden brown.let your kataifi nests cool down for 15-20 min.
8. Whip your cream, add only 2 spoons full of sugar.
The syrup
9. 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
Assembly time 🙂
10a: Add a tiny bit of cream as a hold for the kataifi nest.
10b: Add a bit of syrup to the kataifi,
10c: With a piping bag add a layer of custard,
10d: Then add a layer of whipped cream and sprinkle with pistachios and anything else you think it will make it look pretty!
Enjoy your super crunchy EKMEK BITE
Servings : 6-12 people
Ready in : 220 Minutes
Recipe Type : Desserts
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