First make the syrup. Add all the ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir gently, and as soon as the sugar has dissolved, the syrup is ready. Remove from the heat to cool completely.
Next prepare the filling. In a blender add the walnuts, ground clove and cinnamon; pulse until the walnuts are roughly chopped (not powdered).
Melt the butter and use some of it to brush over the bottom and sides of a baking pan (approx. 26-28cm diameter).
Remove the kataifi from it’s packaging, unroll and work with your hands, tearing apart the shreds and gently spreading the strands out a bit if they clump together. Cover with a slightly damp towel to avoid it drying out.
Take one piece of the kataifi dough, and spread it on a working surface or on your palm. Drizzle with melted butter and place 1 teaspoon of the filling at one end. Roll it up tightly, folding the sides inwards to make a small cylinder. Place the roll in the pan and brush with melted butter. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling. Pack the rolls tightly together, drizzle with a little bit more butter.
Bake in preheated a preheated oven at 170C/190C/Gas 5, for about 45-50 minutes, until nicely golden and crispy.
Remove from the oven, and ladle 3/4 of the syrup over the hot kataifi, enabling each ladle to be absorbed.
Cover the pan with a tea towel and set aside for 10 minutes. Ladle the rest of the syrup over the kataifi and wait until absorbed.
Ingredients
450g kataifi dough
250g shelled walnuts, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
250g butter
For the Syrup
450g sugar, I like golden caster for deeper flavour
