Turkish delight comes down to a single variable: how long the starch cooks. Taken off before forty minutes the mixture will not set in the tin and runs. Cooked too long it turns rubbery as it cools. The right point is when the mixture starts to fall from the spoon slowly in one piece and the colour goes glassy. The lemon juice also stops the syrup crystallising, so it is not skipped.
Ingredients
For the syrup
For the starch mixture
Finally
For the top
Method
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Make the syrup
Boil the sugar, water and lemon juice for 10 minutes and keep it hot at the side of the hob.
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Slake the starch
Mix the starch, water and cream of tartar in a separate pan until smooth.
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Thicken
Cook the starch mixture over a medium heat, stirring constantly, to a paste, 6 minutes.
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Add the syrup
Add the hot syrup to the starch a little at a time, stirring.
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Stir for forty minutes
Stir without a break over a low heat for 40 minutes. The mixture should go glassy and start to fall from the spoon in one piece.
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Final additions
Add the rose water and walnuts and stir for 2 minutes.
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Into the tin
Pour into a tray dusted with icing sugar and starch and level the top.
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Rest
Leave at room temperature for 5 hours, overnight if you can.
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Cut
Cut into cubes with an oiled knife and roll each piece in the icing sugar and starch mixture.
Tips
- Do not shorten the forty minutes; it is the only condition on which the delight sets.
- Do not put it in the fridge. In the cold it sweats and the icing sugar dissolves into stickiness.
- Do not dust with icing sugar alone, mix it with starch; pure icing sugar draws moisture and melts.
- Without cream of tartar, add another half teaspoon of lemon juice, which does the same job.
Nutrition
Values are per serving and approximate.