Ingredients
Units
Scale
- Sugar Syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/4 cup rose water
- 1/4 cup orange blossom water
- Semolina Paste:
- 1 cup semolina
- 113 grams (1 stick) cold butter
- Pistachio Semolina Paste:
- Semolina Paste (above)
- 500 grams unsalted pistachios (shells removed)
- Kashta Cheese Mixture:
- 4 medium drops of mastic
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 500 grams kashta (or ricotta cheese)
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream (or 5 tablespoons if you using ricotta cheese)
- 1 tablespoon rose water
- 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
- Rose petal jam or pomegranate seeds (for decoration – optional)
Instructions
- Grind mastic drops and sugar in a mortar and pestle until it turns into powder.
- Sift the mixture to get rid of clumps.
- Mix the kashta cheese with the mastic powder, heavy cream, rose water, and orange blossom water.
- Reserve ¼ cup on the side for decoration.
- Place the water, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Turn off the heat and stir in the rose water and orange blossom water.
- Combine semolina and butter in a small saucepan, and place on low heat. Keep stirring until the butter melts and the semolina becomes a bit lighter in color. (about 5 minutes). Pour the mixture over the sugar syrup and mix with wooden spoon. Place it aside (or in the fridge) to cool.
- Place pistachios in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process the pistachios until they are finely ground. Transfer to a big bowl and reserve ¼ cup on the side for decoration.
- Add the semolina paste to the big bowl and mix to form a firm and smooth paste. (If the mixture is too liquid, add semolina to harden it)
- Divide the pistachio semolina paste in 2 halves.
- Cut out two sheets of wax paper, large enough to cover a 32 cm (12.5 inch) serving plate.
- Sandwich one half of the paste between both sheets of wax paper.
- Press the paste down with a rolling pin and move it from the center out. Roll into a 32 cm (12.5 inch) circle and then transfer to round serving plate.
- Trim the edge of the paste to form a circle.
- Spread the cheese mixture over the first layer of pistachio paste.
- Roll out the second half – following the same instructions as above – and place on top of the kashta cheese mixture to close it off. Trim the edges.
- Add the reserved ground pistachio on top and spread out to cover the whole surface.
- Add the reserved kashta cheese in the center and on the sides using a small spoon.
- Decorate with rose petal jam or pomegranate seeds (optional).
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
Nutrition
- Calories: 1606.26 kcal
- Sugar: 86.17 g
- Sodium: 118.67 mg
- Fat: 100.48 g
- Saturated Fat: 34.48 g
- Trans Fat: 0.93 g
- Carbohydrates: 145.05 g
- Fiber: 14.51 g
- Protein: 45.18 g
- Cholesterol: 139.9 mg
