Snack · 60 min · greek

Ekmek (Custard Kataifi with Cream)

This is the kind of Greek snack you’ll make on repeat — kataifi pastry and unsalted butter, 60 minutes, big payoff.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 8 oz Kataifi pastry
• 1/2 cup Unsalted butter
• 3 cups Whole milk
• 3/4 cup Fine semolina
• 1.25 cups Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 1.5 cups Heavy cream
• 1/2 cup Pistachios
• 1/2 tsp Mastiha
• 3/4 cup Water
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice

Steps

1. Bake the buttered kataifi pressed into a 9x9 pan at 350°F for 25 minutes until crisp and golden — this is the crunchy foundation everything else sits on.
2. Simmer the sugar, water, and lemon 8 minutes; pour half the warm syrup over the hot kataifi base and let it drink.
3. Make the custard: scald the milk, rain in the semolina, cook thick, then whisk in the remaining sugar, the beaten eggs, and the ground mastiha off the heat. The mastiha gives ekmek its unmistakable piney perfume — a little goes a long way.
4. Spread the custard over the base while both are warm, smooth the top, and chill 3 hours until fully set.
5. Whip the cream to soft peaks, spread over the custard, and shower with chopped pistachios. Chill 1 more hour. Serve cold in proud squares — three distinct layers, one spoon.

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