Turkish cuisine · Desserts & Sweets

Fıstıklı Sarma (Rolled Pistachio Baklava)

Tightly rolled baklava rolls from Gaziantep, densely filled with green pistachios and baked in clarified butter.

Ingredients · for 8 servings

• 500 g phyllo dough
• 350 g pistachios
• 200 g clarified butter
• 450 g sugar
• 350 ml water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

1. Boil the sugar, water and lemon juice for 10–12 min. into a clear syrup, until it hangs from the ladle in a thread, and chill completely.
2. Grind the pistachios briefly in short pulses in a food processor to coarse crumbs – not to flour, or the green color is lost in the clarified butter; melt the clarified butter.
3. Layer two phyllo sheets on top of each other, brush thinly with clarified butter and spread a finger-thick strip of pistachios along the long edge.
4. Roll the dough very tightly around a thin wooden dowel or stick, compress the roll slightly, slide it off the stick and cut into 4 cm pieces.
5. Stand the rolls cut-side up tightly in a buttered dish, pour the remaining clarified butter over them and bake at 165 °C for 50–55 min. until evenly golden brown and crisp-dry.
6. Pour the cold syrup over the hot rolls immediately, let steep uncovered for 4 hrs. and serve sprinkled with chopped pistachios.