This recipe was inspired by a good friend of mine who is always looking out for indulgent desserts. Konafa is an egyptian dessert which is traditionally made with cream or nuts. The addition of fruit especially my favourite summer fruit the mango takes it to a transcendent level. The konafa pastry is crisp in your mouth and oozing with mango syrupy goodness. The pastry cream is lighter than air and the delicious mangoes finish it all of. Very difficult to stop at just one. Happy cooking xx

Ingredients

500 g Konafa (kataifi) pastry
100 g icing (powdered) sugar
100g ghee
500 g of ripe mango (i used frozen), cut into bite sized chunks and placed into a seive

for the pastry cream

1 cup thickened cream
300 ml milk
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 tbspn plain flour
2 tbspn corn flour

For the syrup

1.5 cups of sugar
1 cup water
1 tbpsn lemon juice

Method

Start by making the pastry cream

1. Mix the sugar and egg yolks together in a large bowl.

2. Sift the flour and corn flour into the egg mixture, mixing well.

3. Meanwhile, in a saucepan bring the milk and vanilla bean paste just to scalding.

4. Remove from heat and add  VERY slowly to egg mixture, one ladleful at a time whisking constantly to prevent it turning into scrambled eggs

5. Pour this mixture into a clean  saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 – 60 seconds until it becomes thick. 

6. Cool to room temperature

7. In a separate bowl, whip the thickened cream and fold into the cooled custard

8. Refrigerate your pastry cream at this point

make  syrup

1. In a saucepan over low heat, add the water, sugar and lemon juice and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved, and allow to almost come to a full boil.

2. Set the syrup aside to cool, while you add the mango flavour. If you are using fresh juicy mangos, put the mango peels into the syrup while it cools (and for as long as possible) for the syrup to infuse with mango flavour. If you are using frozen mango like I did, thaw the mango in a sieve over a bowl, add the liquid that is released from the mangoes into the syrup and voila – mango syrup

Bake the konafa

I like make the konafa individual sized so I can exercise some portion control, but you can make one big cake by making a top and bottom layer using the sam sized pan

1.  Shred the konafa pastry well

2. add the melted ghee and mix well

3. add the sugar and mix well

4. Place into cupcake tins – you want the mixture to be about a centimetre high after pressing down on it with a small round object that can fit in the cupcake tin. You want the pastry to be very tightly pressed together (it should make 2 dozen cupcake sized discs)

5. place the cupcake tin into a 180 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown

assembly

1. As soon as the baked Konafa pastry comees out of the oven, put about a tablespoon and a half of the syrup on each disc and allow to absorb while cooling

2. when cooled down to room temperature take each disc, top with the pastry cream and a few chunks of mangoes

3. Then top with another disc

Serve and enjoy!

Happy cooking everyone xx