Ingredients
Greek yoghurt, to serve
For the syrup
300 g golden caster sugar
juice ½ lemon
3 tbsp rosewater (not concentrated, see tip below)
1 large cinnamon stick
For the baklava
75 ml olive oil
500 g chopped almonds
75 g golden caster sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
250g- 270 g pack filo pastry sheets
150 ml rosewater (not concentrated, see tip below)
Method
- Put all the ingredients for the syrup in a heavy-based saucepan, and add 400ml cold water. Stir over a gentle heat to dissolve the sugar, then bring to a steady simmer for 10 mins or until it becomes slightly syrupy. Leave to cool.
- Heat oven to 180C/160C fan. Lightly brush the sides and base of a 23 × 33cm shallow ovenproof dish with a little of the oil.
- For the baklava, mix together the almonds, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and rosewater.
- Place 1 sheet of filo in the bottom of the dish and brush liberally with oil. (If the filo sheets are very large, cut them all in half before using.) Place another one on top and coat again with oil. Repeat this process of layering and brushing with oil until half of the filo sheets are used up. Now spread on the filling and cover with the remaining filo sheets, layering and oiling as before. Be sure to brush the top sheet with oil too. Score the top to form diamond-shaped slices.
- Bake in the oven for about 30 mins, increasing the heat for the last 5 mins to 200C/180C fan to give the pastry a light golden colour.
- Remove from the oven and immediately pour half the cooled rose syrup over the hot pastry. Leave to rest for at least 30 mins so the syrup can seep through the layers. Serve with big dollops of Greek yoghurt and the remaining syrup.