Ingredients
Serves 4
350 g whole blanched almonds
200 g white chocolate, chopped
250 g halva, chopped
130 g panela sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons rosewater
115 g melted butter
melted gee for brushing
9 sheets Antoniou Fillo Pastry
dried rose petals to serve
Sugar syrup
100 ml sugar
20 ml rosewater
Method
Before you begin this Filo Pastry recipe, take your Filo Pastry out of the fridge to bring it up to room temperature in its packaging.
Prepare the filling
Blitz the almonds in the food processor until finely ground, then remove and set aside. Add the white chocolate, halva, panela sugar and ground ginger to the food processor and pulse until finely ground with a few little chunks. Transfer to a large bowl and stir through the blitzed almonds, rosewater and melted butter. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
Assembling the M’hencha
Working with 3 sheets of Filo Pastry at a time, and keeping the others covered to prevent them drying out, brush each sheet with a little ghee, overlapping the short sides by about 4-5 cm.
Fold the Filo Pastry in half lengthwise and brush again with more ghee. Roll one-quarter of the chocolate halva paste into a long finger and loosely place along the bottom long side of the Fillo Pastry, coming to about 4 cm from each end. Roll the pastry over to carefully shape the log, brushing with a little melted ghee as you go. Gently roll into a coil and tuck the ends underneath. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Repeat this process with remaining pastry and filling, adding to the coil each time. Brush the top with ghee, then refrigerate for 20 minutes to set.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake the m’hencha for 20-25 minutes or until golden and crisp.
For the syrup
Place the sugar, rosewater and 100 ml water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stand until cool.
Remove the m’hencha from the oven and gently brush a generous amount of the sugar syrup over the top. Sprinkle with dried rose petals and serve with the yoghurt and lemon ice-cream.
Recipe by Shane Delia for A Middle East Feast.