Shamishi

The custard set firm and chilled before it is wrapped, because a warm one tears the pastry from inside.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (milk).

Ingredients

the custard

• 750 ml milk
• 120 g fine semolina
• 120 g sugar
• 1 strip lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt

the pastry

• 400 g plain flour
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 200 ml warm water
• cornflour, for rolling

to finish

• oil, for frying, about 3 cm depth
• icing sugar, to dust
• ground cinnamon

Method

1. THE CUSTARD IS SET FIRM AND CHILLED BEFORE IT IS WRAPPED, because a warm one tears the pastry from inside. Hot semolina custard is a thick liquid: spooned onto rolled dough it spreads, soaks into it, and the parcel splits along a seam in the fryer and empties itself into the oil. Poured into a tray to a depth of about two centimetres and refrigerated for three hours, it sets firm enough to CUT INTO BLOCKS and lift with a palette knife -- and a solid block can be wrapped tightly, sealed and fried, and it then melts back to a soft custard inside the sealed pastry as it cooks. The texture people remember is the result of it being solid when it went in and liquid when it came out.
2. IT IS CUT INTO BLOCKS AND NOT SPOONED. A knife through the chilled slab, into rectangles a little smaller than the pastry squares. Spooning defeats the point even when the custard is cold.
3. THE PASTRY IS A LEAN OIL-AND-WATER DOUGH AND IS ROLLED THIN WITH CORNFLOUR. No butter and no egg -- it needs to be strong and thin rather than rich, because it is a container. Rolled with cornflour rather than flour, which does not absorb into the dough and lets it go thinner without sticking.
4. THE SEALING IS DONE WITH A WET FINGER AND PRESSED WITH A FORK. Every edge. Hot oil finds any gap, and a parcel that opens in the fryer loses its filling in about two seconds.
5. THE ICING SUGAR GOES ON WARM BUT NOT HOT. Straight from the oil it dissolves into syrup and slides off; fully cold, it will not stick. Five minutes on a rack is about right, and it is dusted heavily with cinnamon over it.
6. The milk brought to a simmer with the lemon peel, then the peel removed.
7. The semolina rained in while whisking, with the sugar and salt, and cooked 8 MINUTES over a low heat, stirring constantly, until very thick.
8. The vanilla stirred in. Poured into a lined tray to a depth of 2 cm and levelled.
9. CHILLED 3 HOURS, until FIRM enough to cut.
10. The pastry made: flour, sugar, salt, olive oil and warm water worked to a firm dough. Kneaded 5 minutes and RESTED 30 MINUTES.
11. Rolled out THIN, using CORNFLOUR not flour, and cut into squares about 12 cm.
12. The chilled custard CUT INTO BLOCKS a little smaller than the squares, and lifted on with a palette knife.
13. Each parcel folded over and EVERY EDGE sealed with a wet finger and pressed with a FORK.
14. The oil heated to 3 cm, to about 175°C.
15. Fried 2 to 3 MINUTES a side, until pale gold and blistered.
16. Drained on a rack 5 MINUTES -- warm, not hot.
17. Dusted HEAVILY with icing sugar and cinnamon. Eaten the same day.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Cyprus · All recipes