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Bülbül Yuvası

The sheet is wrapped round a thin rod and pushed together to pleat before it is coiled, with the centre left hollow.

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

Ingredients

the pastry

the syrup

to finish

Method

  1. THE SHEET IS WRAPPED ROUND A THIN ROD AND PUSHED TOGETHER TO PLEAT BEFORE IT IS COILED. A long thin rod -- a skewer, a chopstick, the handle of a wooden spoon -- is laid along the edge of a buttered filo sheet and the sheet is rolled loosely round it. Then both hands push inward from the ends, concertina-ing the pastry along the rod from perhaps thirty centimetres down to ten. The rod is slid out and that pleated tube is wound into a ring, which is left with an open hole in the middle. The pleating is the whole technique: it is what makes the pastry ruffled and crisp in dozens of thin folds instead of being a smooth dense roll, and the open centre is what the nuts go into after baking.
  2. THE PUSHING IS DONE BEFORE THE ROD COMES OUT, AND GENTLY. Both hands, evenly, from the ends inward. Too hard and the filo tears into shreds; too timid and it stays a smooth tube. It should compress to about a third of its length.
  3. THE CENTRE IS LEFT HOLLOW AND FILLED AFTER BAKING, NOT BEFORE. Nuts are rolled into the pastry, yes, but the hole in the middle of the ring stays empty through the oven and the syrup, and the ground pistachios go in at the very end. Filled before baking they roast and dull, and they soak up syrup and go to paste; added last they are bright green and fresh against the amber pastry.
  4. THE BUTTER IS CLARIFIED AND BRUSHED ON THINLY. Only the clear fat. Milk solids burn in the thin folds, where there is nowhere for them to hide, and speckle the pastry brown.
  5. THE RINGS ARE PACKED TOUCHING IN THE TIN. Side by side so they support each other. A pleated ring standing alone relaxes and unwinds as it bakes.
  6. HOT PASTRY, COOL SYRUP, AND POURED ROUND NOT OVER. The cooled syrup poured into the tin around the rings rather than directly onto them, so it comes up from below. Poured over the tops it floods the pleats and flattens them, and the ruffled look is lost.
  7. The syrup ingredients boiled 12 MINUTES and LEFT TO COOL COMPLETELY.
  8. The butter melted, settled, and the clear fat poured off.
  9. One filo sheet brushed THINLY with clarified butter and the coarsely ground pistachios scattered along one long edge.
  10. A thin ROD laid along that edge and the sheet rolled LOOSELY round it.
  11. BOTH HANDS PUSHING INWARD from the ends, concertina-ing the pastry along the rod to about a THIRD of its length.
  12. The rod slid out and the pleated tube WOUND INTO A RING, the CENTRE LEFT OPEN.
  13. Set in a tin, PACKED TOUCHING its neighbours.
  14. Baked at 170°C for 35 to 40 MINUTES, until deep golden.
  15. The COOL syrup poured into the tin AROUND the rings, not over them.
  16. Left 4 HOURS.
  17. The hollow centres filled with the finely ground pistachios and a pistachio half set on each.
  18. TESTED: the pleats should still be visible and distinct and the centre open. Flattened means the syrup went over the top.

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 Turkey · All recipes