Sink your teeth this winter into Afghanistan's sinful delicacy- Baklava

New Delhi [India], Jan. 21 (ANI): Baklava is one of the major sweet dishes in Afghanistan. This rich and sweet pastry is made up of layers of filo and filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey.

Afghanistan is well known for its delicious food. Apart from its non- vegetarian dishes like Kabuli pulaw, lamb grilled kebab, Mantu, Tandoori chicken and rice dishes; Afghanistan is widely famous for its sweet delicacies.

The sweet dishes like Kulche Badami (Afghan Almond cookies), Kolche Ab-e-Dandaan (melt in your mouth cookies), Sheerpira (Homemade Afghan Sweets) are some of the very famous mouth watering dishes. But one of the major sweet dishes in Afghanistan is Baklava.

This rich and sweet pastry is made up of layers of filo and filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey.

Tamim Omari, an Afghan refugee, sell these delicacies in Jangpura, which is also known as the 'Little Kabul in Delhi'.

"By making all these delicacies and special dishes from Afghanistan, we want to showcase our culture and tradition in India. We make all these food items to introduce our food culture among Indian people. And Indian people over here really like our bread, sweets and other food items." said Tamim Omari, owner and chef, Afghani bakery.

"Every day Indians visits our shop and they ask about our afghan dishes. They really like and purchase our food items on daily basis and ask about the recipes. The most liked item among the sweets is Baklava," he added.

Two years ago, Tamim came from Afghanistan to take refuge in India; he is now running his business successfully. He dreams to expand his business and introduce different variety of Afghan sweets in the Indian market.

Tamim said, "My dream is to expand this shop and I want to increase my business in future. I want to make more birthday and wedding cakes and also I want to introduce more variety of cookies from Afghanistan. And I hope I will be able to achieve my dream in future."

Baklava can be found in many Middle East countries. In Armenia and Azerbaijan it is called pakhlava. It gets accompanied by a sour cream in Georgia. In Iran, a drier version of baklava is cooked and presented in smaller diamond-shaped cuts flavored with rose water.

In Afghanistan, however, Baklava is mostly consumed in the morning along with Afghani roti, which enhances the taste of the delicacy.