'Baklava' is a Turkish delicacy, which was introduced to me few months back. I had heard of this sweet dish before, but never got a chance to taste it. One of my friends had brought Baklava while visiting us sometime back. We liked its unique taste and crispy texture.
After tasting this heavenly sweet, I just googled for Baklava recipe. The recipe called for walnut as one of the main ingredient. I didn't had walnuts in my pantry and hence, I have replaced it with almonds. Baklava tasted perfect just the same as the store bought ones.
I have adopted this recipe from allrecipes.com with slight modifications. Try this recipe and let me know your feedback..

Preparation time: 35 minutes
Baking time: 50 - 55 minutes
Yield: 40 pieces (depending on the size)
Difficulty level: Difficult

Ingredients:

• Filo pastry sheets - 375 gm
• Butter - 250 gm
• Sugar - 1 cup (1 cup = 200 gm)
• Almonds - 2 cups (see tips)
• Sugar powder - 4 tbsp
• Water - 1 cup
• Peel of half lime
• Cloves - 2
• Honey - 6 tbsp
• Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp

Method:

• Thaw the filo pastry sheets according to the instructions on the pack.
• Chop the almonds finely and toast them on low flame till aromatic or till it turns golden brown. Add sugar powder, cinnamon powder once its cool and keep aside.
• Grease the baking tray with butter. I have used a 33*23 cm baking pan here.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
• Take out two sheets of filo pastry carefully from the pack and arrange them on the greased tray. Brush the top with melted butter and place two more sheets upon it and brush it with butter. Continue this process till half of the sheets are done.
• Once you finished arranging half of the sheets, fold in the almond mixture and spread it evenly. 
• Start placing filo pastry sheets 2 at a time, brush with butter and continue this process till you are done with all the sheets. 
• Brush the top layer with butter and cut the sheets into diamond or any desired shapes of equal size.
• Place the baking tray inside the pre-heated oven and bake them for 50 - 55 minutes or till they turn golden brown.
• Prepare sugar syrup while Baklava is baking. Combine sugar and water in a vessel and bring to boil. Once the sugar has diluted, add cloves, honey and lemon peel. Allow it to boil on low flame for 15 - 20 minutes and turn off the flame. Take out the cloves and lemon peel and discard it. 
• Once the Baklava is cooked, take it out of oven and pour the sugar syrup evenly. Allow it to set for atleast two hours before serving.

Tips:

• The original recipe calls for walnuts. I have used almonds here since i didn't had walnuts. 

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Being born and brought up in a village environment, we rarely used to eat the bakery food. All we knew was only Bread those days! We didn't had an oven, so there was no chance to eat any baked food at home. When I started going to college, I came to know about more varieties of bakery food and got addicted to them.

Veg Puffs are one of my favourite bakery food. Making the pastry sheets at home is bit tedious task. These days, puff pastry sheets are available in super markets, so making the Puffs at home is not that difficult. Here is my version of Veg Puffs!

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 25 minutes

Difficulty level: Medium

Yield: 6 Veg Puffs

Ingredients:

• Eggplant - 1 (small sized)
• Potato - 1 (medium sized)
• Capsicum - 1 halve
• Beans - 4 to 5
• Green peas - 1/2 cup (*see Tips)
• Onion - 1 large
• Salt - to taste
• Amchur powder - 1/2 tsp or to taste
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp or according to taste
• Garam masala powder - 1/4 tsp
• Oil - 3 tbsp (plus more for brushing)
• Puff pastry sheet - 1 1/2 (can make 4 puffs from 1 sheet)

Method:

• Cut the potato into two halves, cover with enough water and pressure cook upto 2 whistles. Once they are cool, peel off the skin and chop them into medium sized cubes.
• Chop eggplant, capsicum, beans and onion into small chunks and keep separately.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add chopped beans and eggplant. Cook them covered on low flame. Add up to 2 tbsp of water if needed.
• Once these veggies are almost cooked, add green peas and chopped capsicum.
• Add chopped onion after a minute and mix well. Cook it on medium flame for 4 - 5 minutes.
• Add the potato pieces followed by salt, amchur powder, red chilli powder and garam masala powder. Mix everything well and turn off the flame.
• Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
• Thaw the puff pastry sheets according to the instructions on the package.
• Take one whole pastry sheet and cut it into 4 equal squares. Take one piece and put it on a flat surface. Pour 2 tbsp or little more of stuffing mixture on the middle of the pastry piece. Apply little water to the sides of pastry piece and fold it keeping the stuffing mixture inside. Press the edges and make sure that stuffing won't comes out. Do the same with all the pastry pieces.
• Line the baking tray with aluminium foil or baking sheet and place the veg puffs on it. Keep some space for them to expand.
• Brush the puffs with oil or butter and cook them for around 25 minutes or till they turn golden brown.
• Serve them hot with Tomato ketchup and a cup of hot tea!

Tips:

• If using dried green peas, you nee to soak it for 4 - 5 hours and pressure cook along with potatoes. I have used fresh ones here hence, no need to cook before using.
• For the stuffing, use any vegetable which has less water content. Veggies like carrot, beetroot, sweet corn, cabbage also go well for the stuffing. Or if if there is any leftover stir fry, you can use it too!

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