At one glance, the Gullac might look like a block of feta cheese with fruits as a garnish, but the Gullac is a famous Turkish dessert. This particular dessert is made with milk, pomegranate and a type of Turkish pastry prepared with corn starch and wheat flour rolled until it is paper-thin.
Traditionally, the Gullac is often served during Ramadhan, and some even see it as a variant of Baklava. The making of the Gullac itself is pretty straight forward, but it does require a lot of finesse and patience.
Ingredients:
- 10 sheets of Gullac (get it from a Middle Eastern store)
- 500g of Granulated Sugar
- 2 litres of Milk
- 10g of vanilla powder
- 2 tablespoon of rose water
- 200 grams of walnuts, chopped
(For Toppings)
- 50g of walnuts finely chopped
- 50g of pistachios finely chopped
- 50g of nuts finely chopped
- 50 of pomegranates
Slices of fresh strawberries
Cooking direction:
- Prepare the syrup that will be the base of the dessert by adding milk and sugar into a pot and slow heat using low heat. Continue to stir to avoid any burn. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the milk is lukewarm. Do not boil the milk.
- Add the rose water and vanilla powder into the pot, stir and set aside.
- To prepare the dessert, use a tray and lay your first layer of Gullac sheet. Add the milk and sugar syrup on top and continue to layer the Gullac sheet. The milk and sugar should act as glue to hold the Gullac pastry together.
- After about 5 sheets of Gullac pastry, spread the chopped walnuts on the top layer and continue to layer the dessert with more Gullac pastry and milk and sugar mixture.
- After about 2 layers of Gullac pastry and milk mixture, repeat steps 4 and continue until you have layered all the Gullac pastry sheets.
- Pour the remaining milk and sugar mixture and put the dessert in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours.
- Take the Gullac out of the fridge and start garnishing your dessert with walnuts, pistachios, nuts, freshly sliced strawberries and pomegranate. Serve immediately.
- The Gullac must only be served on the same day it is prepared. Since the Gullac is smothered with milk and sugar mixture, the dessert would be too soggy if served the next day.
