Shazia Ahmed offers oven-fresh baklava, for a lot cheaper than a flight to Istanbul
Pics/Suresh Karkera
Five hundred years ago, in the imperial kitchens of Topkapi palace in Istanbul, master bakers invented the baklava. Two years ago, at a culinary school in Dubai, home baker Shazia Ahmed invented a baklava course.
"Actually, there are no culinary schools that teach you how to make Middle-Eastern sweets. And, how much can you learn from YouTube?" she asks. "Since I was in Dubai, and they [Richemont Masterbaker Center] had Algerian and Turkish chefs onboard, I requested them to conduct a class." During the three-week course, it took three chefs to teach a class of one. "It took me almost a week to understand how to roll the filo dough. The chefs would get tired, because it was something new even for them. They hadn't taught students [before] this."
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Shazia Ahmed
After acquiring hands-on training at a Turkish restaurant called Petek in Abu Dhabi, the 30-year-old returned to Mumbai, and launched Mezaya out of a kitchen in Andheri last year. Ahmed learnt other desserts from the Middle Eastern desert as well: basboussa (almond and semolina cake), makrout and ma'amoul (cookies), kanafeh (cream or cheese filling sandwiched between sevaiyya-like sheets) and osh el bulbul (a sweetmeat that resembles a bird's nest, in which pistachios stand in for eggs), but for now, she's focussing on the baklava because "no one knows only [the other sweets]. It's so new that I won't be surprised if people think anything is a baklava. Even I didn't know what it was for sure until the time I decided to make a living out of it."
In the Turkish baklava, crumbled nuts (pistachio, almond or walnut) are tucked in between layers of filo sheets, and sealed in with sugar syrup. Like a dialect, the baklava's texture on the tongue changes according to region. The Turkish baklava is left to wallow in rose syrup, the Lebanese version in orange blossom, and the Syrian one in good ol' sugar syrup. For now, Ahmed offers three types of baklavas: the regular one, shaped like a parallelogram and filled with a potpourri of pistachios and cashews; the cigar rolls called mezroomas, stuffed with only pistachios; and mezbaat, shaped like samosas and filled with pistachios and almonds.
"You can differentiate the baklava on the basis of the cut and the texture. The ingredients will be the same, but there'll be a minus-plus. Either the filo pastry will be more or the nuts will be more, which makes a big difference to the taste." Ahmed imports her filo sheets from Turkey, and offers two kinds of boxes: for gifting (10 pieces for Rs 900) and for a sugar rush (six pieces for Rs 500).
Ahmed chose the baklava as her centrepiece because of her father, whose edible oil business she quit after seven years. "My dad had a different approach, which I actually understand today. When I told him I wanted to learn French culinary, he said, 'Find something that's actually different and will work. Something people are interested in and is a growing market.' Right now, people are travelling to Dubai and things have become so global. If people can get used to eating macaroons, then why not baklavas? Honestly, baklavas match the Indian palate.
It's similar to khaja, which is also a layered pastry with cream filling." While baklava boxes are available across Mumbai, those are dry baklavas with a shelf life of a month, while Ahmed's oven-fresh ones are best eaten within three days. In that sense, Ahmed is following the bakers of the Ottoman empire. Suleiman the Magnificent wouldn't have eaten baklavas even a day old, and neither should you.
Order a box of goodies
Shazia Ahmed's Mezaya
Turkish baklava, Rs 500 for a box of six. Call 9967871000
Iranian Sweets Palace
Iranian baklava, in which the baklava is doused in honey. For a box of 36 pieces, the price is Rs 1,500 and orders have to be placed a fortnight earlier. Call 9870017847
Doyen Foods LLP
Turkish baklavas that are made on the day and have a shelf life of a month. One box comes with an assortment of baklavas: Rs 625 for about 14 pieces. Call 9820079670
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