The Turkish/Ottoman Empire reigned over Romania and many Romanian dishes were influenced by it. Sarailie is a type of Baklava/Baklawa filled with nuts and soaked in sugar syrup and honey with a pinch of rose water (or orange Blossom water).
This time – I filled it with a cheese filling – very similar to the ingredients of the Papanash patties, and made it a dairy sweet for Shavuot. The dairy version comes out softer and moister than the original nut Sarailie.
Sarailie – Baklawa filled with cheese
Servings
Ingredients
- 1 pound Phyllo pastry 14 sheets, defrosted in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours
- 2 cups Farmer cheese or Ricotta cheese
- 4 Tbs sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- A pinch of salt
- Lemon and orange zest
- 2 Tbs instant pudding or cornstarch
- 1 egg
- Optional: raisins or dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup each melted butter and canola oil for brushing
- 1 2/3 cup water
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- Juice from one lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Flower Blossom water or Rose water to taste: if it’s an extract – use cautiously
- 1 wooden skewer !
Instructions
- Mix all the filling’s ingredients.
- Lay out one layer of Phyllo and cover the rest with a dry kitchen towel/cloth. Phyllo pastry dries really fast so make sure you cover the sheets that aren’t in use.
- Cut the Phyllo sheet lengthwise to 3 equal rectangles. Brush the sheet with a mixture of melted butter and oil. Cut a wooden skewer in two, place one half of the skewer on top of one of the rectangles’ width, nearest to your body.
- Put the filling in a plastic piping bag and press out a narrow line of filling, next to and parallel to the skewer.
- Roll the Phyllo on the skewer and the filling till the end of the sheet And this is the little trick that makes these Baklava fingers look wrinkled:
- Push, with both your hands’ fingers, from both sides of the roll, to the center. Take out the skewer and place in a heat-proof Pyrex dish.
- After the dish is filled with Sarailie “fingers”, give it another brush with melted butter and bake in medium temperature for 35-45 minutes, till it gets a golden- Brownish color.
- In the meantime, prepare the syrup:
- Heat water, sugar, honey and the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan. Let is simmer for several minutes.
- When the Sarailie come out of the oven, drizzle the syrup over them, gradually, till they soak the liquid. At this point – you can choose how much syrup you want to add to it. No need to use it all. You can save it in the fridge or freezer for later use.
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