Baklava ... or Baklawa

i think the spelling and pronuoncition berbeza2 geographycally. sebab manisan baklava yang pada kita orang Malaysia lebih sinonim dengan negara2 timur tengah dan turki sebenarnya juga terkenal di negara2 balkan i.e. greece dan bosnia. jadi asal dari mana baklava ni? hmmm risik2 lah sendiri ye... meh layan resipi. i owe this to one silent reader - dasheila and diana.

there are many version of baklava recipe can be found on the internet, you may choose either the greeks version or turkish version. and there's iranians and afghans version too. masa nak buat tu i had this iranians recipe in hand tapi tengok list panjang sangat and the portion pun quite large so in the end i opted for simple recipe yang diambil kat rumah kak min aka lemongrass. minta halal ye ;-)

Baklava (simplified version)

10 keping filo pastry
100g butter, cairkan (sila guna lebih butter coz 100gm is not enough for me!)
about 300g mixed nuts (you can use pistachio, walnuts, almonds, cashew), kisar halus (i use a combination of almonds & pistachio - tapi pistachio lebih sedap & mahal!!! next time i'm gonna use pistachio only!)

For the sugar syrup
250g gula kasar
150mls air
a splash of lemon juice (dalam 1 sudu teh pun cukup)
1/2 tablespoon of rosewater (kalau ada)
* i adopt the iranian version by putting in 1 cinnamon stick. i don't have rosewater in my pantry. ada juga recipe yang letak cardamon pods (biji buah pelaga)
*boleh tambah 1 sudu besar madu kalau suka

- Masak air dan gula sehingga menggelegak. Letak kulit kayu manis (atau cardamon pods kalau guna). Let it boil for about 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and rosewater (and honey kalau guna). Peringatan: jangan boil the syrup terlalu lama or sehingga terlalu pekat/likat, nanti susah nak menyerap ke dalam baklava. Pour the sugar syrup onto the cooked hot baklava.


Preheat oven to 180ºC.
1. Grease a rectangular disposable aluminium container (utk senang nak buang terus lepas tu :-)) measuring 8"x 12".
2. Sapu 1 keping filo pastry dgn melted butter. Nak koyakkan filo pastry ni hati2 coz sangat nipis. Sementara tengah brush filo dengan butter keep the rest berbalut sebab dia cepat kering nanti mudah koyak. Kemudian lipat 2 dan masukkan dlm container, adjust sikit the filo pastry to fit. Repeat until dah letak 5 keping pastry dlm container.
3. Kemudian taburkan kacang ground kat atas filo pastry tu sehingga habis dan menutupi semua bahagian pastry.
4. Ulang step 2 dan letak atas taburan kacang tadi sehingga semua filo habis digunakan. Make sure lapisan filo yg di atas sekali disapu dgn butter bnyk sikit.
5. Potong baklava bentuk diamond sehingga lapisan bawah sekali sebelum masuk dlm oven.
6. Bakar for about 25 mins or until golden.
7. Take the baklava out of the oven and straight away pour half of the syrup on it. Let it meresap dulu, then pour the rest of the syrup.
8. Enjoy!

* I leave the baklava for a few hours until the syrup meresap betul2 ke dalam. Ada yang kata best leave them soaked overnight which is even better kalau anda boleh tahan sabar hehe. You can granish the baklava with remaining ground pistachio.

Ada yang bertanya apa rasanya baklava ni?
I was asking myself the same thing before i first tasted one. For a sweeth tooth like me, rasa dia hmm... heaven!
okay seriously, rasa dia lemak2 manis - manis datangnya daripada syrup tu and lemak from the nuts. kalau guna pistachio rasanya lebih lemak dan sedap. while the filo pastry sungguhpun masa baru keluar oven rasanya rangup tapi after u let the syrup seep through and leave them overnight, filo tu akan jadi lembut but can still hold its texture. hmm pernah makan biskut kacang tumbuk? lebih kurang begitulah cuma tidak rangup.

Lain Padang, Lain Belalang, Lain Orang, Lain Ragam...

Fahmi is recovering from tonsil infection. His body temperature has gone back to normal, thanks to antibiotics and paracetamol syrup prescribed by his paed. He has gone back to school despite nenek’s prediction that he will need to stay at home come Monday. I hate the idea of my children staying away from school longer than necessary, unless it is really necessary. Because I don’t want them to miss out on school. Thank God he fell ill during the beginning of the weekend (don’t get me wrong I’m neither happy nor sad if my children fall ill, it is a process that every one has to go through, we are human after all), which means I have 2 days to take care of him and give him the best treatment I could provide – that is mother’s TLC. Alhamdulillah he is ok now, but still need to complete the course of the medicines given.

Tonsillitis… ni semua inherit dari mama. Both my children ada tonsillitis. It is easier with fahmi sebab dia rajin makan ubat. And the speed of his recovery pun lebih cepat compared to yaya sebab dia masih mahu makan walaupun tekak sakit. Whereas yaya she’s a bit resistance when it comes to ubat, inikan pula nak disuruh makan memang dia tak mau. Ketakutan dia terhadap sakit nak menelan makanan overcome keinginan dia nak cepat sembuh.

Now, mama pula sakit. Bukanlah sakit teruk, but I’m having a very bad stomach ache sejak malam tadi. Must be something rotten or infected in my food semalam. Adehhh…

meh layan mata tengok foto2 dulu dan kini laman depan rumah. we started to plant pokok berdaun lebar dan rumput filipina ni lepas pindah masuk rumah.

December 2009
pokok berdaun lebar ni apa ntah nama dia ye? birah udang ke? susah sungguh nak membela dia bila beralih ke tanah baru. my abah tolong pasakkan kayu supaya pokok tak rebah ke tanah masa mula2 alih dulu.

April 2010
now after 4 months walaupun tak selebat seperti masa kami tanam kat subang perdana dulu but at least banyak anak2 pokok dah mula keluar, daunnya pun hijau2 belaka

yang ni pula rumput filipina yang kutanam. punyalah kedekut orang lain tanam rapat2, aku ni nak jimat punya pasal sekeping rumput aku potong tiga pastu tanam jarak2.

December 2009



April 2010
now rumput dah menjalar tutup lompong2 tu. tapi every now and them kami kena tabur tanah in between the squares supaya rumput lebih cepat menjalar dan tutup penuh rapat2.
nampak tak pokok kaffir lime new addition to our laman. baru petang semalam kubuang ulat bulu yang menyamar menyerupai batang pokok. habis dedaunnya carik dan berlubang2 diratah ulat. dan pokok purple button tu dah makin tenat after 4 months... jenis tak tahan lasak juga dia. nak kugantikan dengan rumput bawang berbunga purple dan putih nanti.

Quadruple Celebration

we had another birthday party today in seremban with my family. it was a join celebration for yaya and her cousins (my nieces) and my shy pet brother who is not in any of the pictures below.

remember the party that i plan to have in my house? nah... we shifted it to our (my ;-)) favourite restaurant in seremban instead. all my siblings turn up. so it was a family gathering.

eversince i started to bake, all my nieces and nephews wants me to bake their birthday cake. like this time around each of them wants to have their dream cake. but i only have two hands, so i bake a castle cake with their faces printed on edible icing and put them on the cake. they were happy to see their faces on the cake, so that solved my problem. haha...
yaya with her cousin, left in brown blouse and top wearing party hat with their castle cake.my pet bro not in the pic. the brown blouse worn by my niece, farah, was mine! i worn them when i was in my early twenties and was doing my industrial training. i'm surprised to see she can fits in to my blouse. and the skirt she wore was mine too! she worn them ankle length whereas i worn them knee length. that shows how tiny i was when i was young! *lol*
my boy fahmi was not well. he had fever due to infected tonsil. still when around his cousins he forgot he had fever and went all the way to have fun.
my mum and sister. i just realised all of us including me wore purple tudung! ;-)

My Princess Is 5!

my little princess turns 5 today.
she received special treatment today because of it's her birthday. i took the day off. we organised her 5th birthday at school. i dropped her to school today when on other days she took a ride on her teacher's car to and fro school. after i dropped her at school this morning, i quickly drove back home to collect the food and goodies for her party. nothing much really. i wanted to make fried bihun but teacher mimi said they'll prepare nasi goreng. so i supplied chicken nuggets, cocktail sausages, fruits on bamboo skewer, goodies and cake of course.
hubby bought 3 packs of these really sweet and juicy korean strawberry from giant. i count more than 50 strawberries from 3 packs. that was like more than 15pcs per pack sold at rm10/pack! really cheap.
fruits on bamboo skewer
goodie bag for the children, they were 40 of them so i made extra
princess doll cake. she wants doll cake always for her birthday... so boring ;-P
it was very kind of the school to organise games and other fun activities to start off the party. it was very kind also of them for allowing us (me & hubby) to stay during the party. we left after the children sing happy birthday and cake cutting.cutting the cake. all her friends went "oohh" and "aah" by just looking at her cake. ;-)

afterwards, me & hubby sit in front of our pc watching a collection of videos of yaya from birth until now. we are amazed how tiny little bundle of joy with very little hair and tiny voice now turns to be a bubbly girl with piercing voice. how time flies.




and she got a new bike for her birthday that afternoon. hubby offered to buy her a pink bike but she wants red just like her abang's

Another Birthday Planning

I haven’t got around to decide on the venue for yaya’s birthday party this weekend. I'd like to gather her friends at our place on Saturday afternoon for a small party sans the parents. Yes only for the kids. Organize simple games for them to start with, followed by cake cutting and makan. Preparing food for the children will be easy, tak payahlah mama masak menu pelbagai, finger foods will do. Then afterwards, say 2 hours after that the parents can come and collect their children back home. Tapi boleh ke gitu? Ada ke mak bapak yang sanggup lepaskan anak2 below 6 years for 2 hours? Kalau ada yang sanggup sila angkat tangan. I don’t think so.

That’s why I come up with another option yang lebih realistic, that is to organize the party at her school. Owhhh aku belum call teacher dia lagi to ask for permission. Tapi bila difikirkan takkan dia menolak. Her birthday is going to be on Friday, setahu aku jadual dia on Friday a bit loose. Lagipun the school tak payah prepare food for that day coz all will be provided by us that already save their time and $$ kan? I’m actually doing them a favour hehehe. Permission belum dapat lagi tapi goodie bag dah siap hehe.

On Saturday pulak I plan to have a small and quite makan2 for the family. I know this time around many of my family members would not be able to come. Which is fair enough because kos nak datang ke sini bukannya sedikit walaupun tak jauh sangat – bukan setakat kos $$ tapi kos masa dan kerja shift. anyway they were here in late January so I understand if they couldn’t come. My sister tanya kenapa tak buat kat mum’s place je. I was thinking about having it there tapi nak transport the cake and furthermore aku tak nak gathering low key tiba2 jadi hi-key (if you know what I mean lah from past experience hehe). So we are having it here at my home.

Birthday girl tak kisah sangat kat mana nak buat party dia. Dia juga awal2 dah tolak offer mama nak belikan hadiah coz she said she can’t think of what she wants for her birthday! She said it is enough knowing that she will get loads of presents from her aunties and uncles and guests (if any ;-P). owhh isn’t she sweet? Harharhar…

oh ya btw, kerja2 membaiki jalan sudah siap petang tadi. insyaAllah esok pagi dah tak jam lagi dan tak perlulah aku keluar awal boleh tidur lama sikit hehehe.

Weekend At The Carnival

We participated in our first open booth sale yesterday, at the le tour the alam budiman cycling carnival. I’m a very shy person face to face, memang segan nak berjualan open table ni. Offering your services online limit whatever communication through email and text messages sahaja. Bercakap melalui phone sangat minimal, biasanya during collection sahaja. So if you think the open booth sale was my idea, you are wrong.

It was hubby yang beriya2 sangat persuade me to participate. Aku tak teruja pada mulanya but I went along anyway because I know he meant well. It’ll help to create awareness of our small biz but most of all we just want to support the community’s event. Hubby aktif juga dengan kegiatan surau, so it is not the money that counts – well, the biz was never about money to start with.

Anyway, it was a small, low key event. Yesterday’s event was more for the children. tapi tak sangkalah langsung takde mak bapak accompany anak masing2. style drop and collect later je rasanya. Lepas tu satu2nya sales booth yang ada kat situ was ours. Malunya rasa. Masa mula2 hubby bagitau pasal event tu bunyinya macam banyak gerai yang akan dibuka, tiba2 on the event day cuma kami je yang turn up. Aduhhh segan giler seh. Pun begitu kami teruskan juga. My children yang sejak awal excited nak tolong mama dia berjualan terus jadi patung. Fahmi tak henti2 merungut “takde pun orang beli…” aduhhh malu aku. I didn’t bake much. Hanya 20pcs each of choc cupcake, vanilla and carrot cupcakes. Ada juga buat choc fudge frosting whole kek and black forest kek yang aku tinggalkan kat rumah tak jadi nak bawa bila tengok orang dua kerat je.

Lama juga kami duduk termenung. Budak2 lalu lalang setakat jeling2 je macam segan. Orang dewasa yang dua kerat mostly urusetia memanglah takde masa nak menjenguk gerai kami. Aku dah patah semangat, fahmi dan yaya dah naik boring, hubby tersenyum kambing dengan sunglasses dia tu. tipah tertipu…bang.

Until sorang kawan hubby ni datang. Oh I am counting on him to kick start the whole thing bila yang lain2 macam segan2 je. reasonnya sebab memang sejak last few weeks I heard from hubby yang kawan dia ni asyik tanya pasal kek bila dia dapat tau ada baker kat rumah hubby ;-). tak taulah yang lain2 tu betul2 segan atau tak berminat. Tapi bila dia yang mulakan break the ice terus berpusu2 budak2 dan mak budak serta bapak budak serbu. Walaupun crowd tersangat kecil, tapi by the end of the event habis semua kek atas meja. Alhamdulillah sambutan yang perlahan tapi sangat baik. Owh, all the cakes were sold at knock down price. This time around it was not for the money. Tapi saya sangat malu berjualan solo begitu ;-P





dummy fondant cake bertemakan bumblebee in a garden ni jadi tumpuan anak2 kecil kat karnival. sampai ada yang merengek2 minta dibelikan

bapak budak mengalahkan budak2 main acara basikal paling perlahan sampai ada yang sanggup buang angin tayar!

Black Wednesday

Kalau istilah black Monday biasalah dengar kan? hehe ni black wednesday lah pulak. I had a very awful beginning for this week then followed by an awful mid-week yesterday. My black wednesday began with a very heavy traffic sepanjang jalan dari alam budiman melepasi cahaya spk pagi semalam on the way to drop fahmi kat kindy and to work. Takde hujan takde rebut tiba-tiba je kontraktor datang korek jalan. Yang buat aku pelik tu kalaupun nak betulkan jalan (takdelah rosak teruk pun) kenapalah jkr tak suruh kontraktor buat kerja masa cuti sekolah last week. Setidak2nya taklah ramai sangat pengguna jalanraya masa tu dan taklah menyebabkan unnecessary bad traffic di awal pagi. Disebabkan kelemahan pihak2 tertentu menjadualkan kerja habis pengguna jalanraya macam aku tak pasal2 sampai tempat kerja lewat. Kesian juga kat fahmi yang sampai 30mins late… monyok kawan tu duk dalam kereta berjam2. Hangin je satu badan, tak leh nak tolerate kejumudan orang2 yang tak reti nak buat planning ni.

Bila dah lepas je daripada bad traffic kat cahaya spk tu legalah sikit walaupun jam dah hampir 8.30pagi. Memecutlah aku menuju ke tol bukit jelutong. Hampanya lah hati bila sampai je kat tol tengok kereta bertepek2… adehhh ada accidentlah pulak. Macam tulah nkve kalau ada accident or hujan lebat sure jam gila tarik sampai ke muka tol. Tension nya lah aku.

Sampai kat ofis, pagi2 dah dapat cerita tak best. cengginilah bila dapat superior yang nasty and moody. bila dia terlalu ikut nafsu marah dia tu boleh spoil orang punya hari. biarpun yang terkena tu bukan aku tapi kesian sungguh kat hamba Allah tu, layan jelah beb.

Petang tu kat ofis dek kerana seronok dapat menyelamatkan periuk nasi hamba Allah ni aku tergopoh2 berjalan keluar dari bilik sampai patah tumit kasut. Dah lah jarang pakai, tak pasal2 patah. padahal bukan aku pun yang menang loteri, terlebih excited pulak. whatever, lega rasa hati, syukur alhamdulillah.

Before I end this entry, I want to show off the baklava that I made last month. yelah dah lama takde netry bergambar (macam buku skrap lah pulak).I was addicted to baklava. Few months ago I don’t know why people eats baklava, aku tak faham kenapa sesetengah raya hampers mesti ada this particular Turkish delights. Sehinggalah satu hari di bulan ramadhan last year, aku beranikan diri rasa baklava from the raya hamper yang hubby bawa balik. I was on the brink of throwing them away unopen sebab takde sorang pun dalam rumah ni yang sentuh hamper tu. and if u know me, u know that aku tak suka orang bawa balik benda yang takkan dimakan sesiapa dalam rumah ni. Sebelum masukkan the package ke dalam tong sampah, aku pun bukalah wrap dia dan rasa seketul. Dalam hati berkata “meh lah aku rasa dulu ntah apa yang sedapnya benda ni…” . There and then I fall in love with baklava. I was hooked.

Selalunya kalau terasa nak makan baklava I have to drive to ikea. Yang kutahu kat situ je tempat nearest to my home yang ada jual baklava. Tapi lecehnya lah nak kena travel 35-40mins just to get sebungkus baklava. So I bought the frozen filo pastry from cold storage and made my own baklava. Tapi rasanya tak sama macam the store bought ones. Sebab tak sabar tunggu nak makan baklava, aku tak tunggu sampai baklava betul2 masak the full 25mins dalam oven. Pastu my sugar syrup pun too thick, tak dapat meresap sepenuhnya dalam baklava, it end up pooling around and at the bottom. But fahmi, who has sweet tooth like me loves it. Dialah tukang perabiskan, tiap2 hari dia makan sikit, sikit. next time nak follow baking instruction betul2.