That Translator Can Cook: Baklava
Delicate, buttery phyllo dough layered with chopped nuts, cinnamon, cardamom, and honey syrup
I love baklava, but not so much when it’s drenched in syrup; I like it much better when the syrup is merely a glaze or it's drizzled. I'm a little afraid to make baklava myself because I’m terribly clumsy and phyllo dough is so fragile.
The origin of baklava is somewhat controversial and many groups (Turkish, Greek, Armenian, etc.) claim that it was created by their ancestors. Many sources point to the Assyrians as the inventors; it is said that in circa 8th century BCE, Assyrians made a dessert composed of thin layers of dough and nuts and drizzled with honey. Some say that the Armenians were the first to create baklava. One source claims that the Ottomans perfected the recipe.
Just look at all that cultural exchange that took place to give us the delicious baklava. In the past, baklava was only made for special occasions and could only be eaten by the wealthy. According to one source, the Turkish “have made it more of an everyday dessert (helped by innovation in producing labor-intense filo dough) while Greeks still reserve baklava for special occasions.”
According to Libnais Sweets, various countries/regions influenced the baklava recipe in different ways:
Greek: created the “thin-as-a-leaf” dough, which is why it’s called ‘phyllo’ dough--the Greek word for “leaf” is “filo” or phyllo.
Armenian: integrated cinnamon and cloves.
Arab: added rosewater and orange blossom water.
Persian: created diamond-shaped baklava and a nut stuffing perfumed with jasmine.
Turkish: refined cooking and pastry-making and spread cuisine throughout the Ottoman Empire.
Baklava is so awesome it has its own day: National Baklava Day is on November 17th.
Here is how to make this awesome dessert (recipe and pictures belong to Onaisa):
Ingredients
12 people
1 pack of phyllo dough
2 cups of ghee
1¼ cups of thick syrup
Filling
3 cups of pistachios
2 tablespoons of ghee
¼ cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of thick syrup
1 tablespoon of rose water
Steps
Crush the pistachios with a rolling pin until you get small and large pistachio fragments.
Prep the filling by mixing the pistachios, ghee, sugar, syrup and rose water together well, crushing the pistachios.
Start prepping the dough and filling, and the dough and ghee: prepare a glass baking pan or medium cookie sheet.
Start by dividing the dough in half: open each layer together and cut each layer in half. The first half is for the bottom layer and the other half is for the top layer. Grease the bottom with ghee, and spread ghee between each sheet of dough as shown in the photos.
Add the filling and press down on the filling to even it out so that it really sticks to the bottom layer.
Begin laying the top layer of dough and spread ghee between each sheet of dough.
After you've finished placing the layers, put the dish in the refrigerator for fifteen minutes so that the ghee hardens and it can be cut into equal pieces. If it doesn’t harden, you can't cut because the dough will slip with the ghee.
Put it into a preheated oven [~350°F-375°F]. You need to keep it in the oven for forty-five minutes, depending on the temperature, and control how much it toasts.
Directly after you take it out of the oven and it is hot, pour the thick syrup over it and let it absorb the syrup.
Let the pan sit for a whole day in a cold space to let it cool, let the layers return to their places, let it absorb the syrup and ghee, and let the pistachios take their place and not disintegrate.
Next day, cut it again and serve it or store it in a special dessert case.
[Chef’s Note] I make it on special occasions because it can be prepared beforehand and won’t spoil, and I think it’s an elegant dish to serve. Bon appetit!
Translators’ Discussion
Is there a difference between ‘thick syrup’ (قطر سميك) and the syrup that is normally used? Can you buy thick syrup or do you have to make it?
For Arabic translators (and speakers), do you usually translate سمنة as ‘ghee’ or do you use ‘shortening’? I tend to use ghee because that’s what I see people cooking with in the Southwest Asia when it comes to سمنة. Sometimes recipes clarify with سمنة حيوانية, and I’ve even seen سمنة نباتية (vegetable shortening/margarine). Culinary translators: would you use ghee or shortening for an American audience? Ghee is somewhat common in the US, but I don’t think it’s a common household ingredient for many Americans. I don’t think substituting ghee with margarine would change the composition of the dish, right?
The recipe referred to the preheated oven as متوسط الحرارة (lit. ‘medium temperature’), so I was quite sure how to let the reader know what temperature to use because “medium temperature” is not at all intuitive for us normal people. After researching a bit, I found that 350-375°F was the medium baking temperature, which is shown in the recipe. How have you culinary translators handled or would handle this situation?