Kanafeh

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Kanafah (Arabic: ???????, [q?'n?:f?] ( listen), dialectal: [kn?'fei]) is a traditional Palestinian dessert made with cheese pastry soaked in sweet, sugar-based syrup. It is popular throughout the Arab world, especially in the Levant, principally in Palestine. In addition in Turkey, the Caucasus and Greece.

Kanafeh is popularly known to have originated in the Palestinian city of Nablus, and is the most representative and iconic Palestinian dessert. Kanafeh Nabulsieh enjoys continued fame, partly due to its use of a white-brine cheese called Nabulsi.

Video Kanafeh

Etymology

The Arabic word kun?fah (Arabic: ??????) is derived from the Arabic verb Arabic: ??????, translit. Kanaf, meaning to shelter.

Maps Kanafeh

Preparation

Kanafeh pastry contains many types:

khishnah (Arabic: ?????, rough): crust made from long thin noodle threads.
na'ama (Arabic: ??????, fine): semolina dough.
mhayara (Arabic: ??????, mixed): a mixture of khishnah and na'ama.
mbrwma (Arabic: ???????, twined): It is prepared with noodle.

The pastry is heated in butter, margarine, palm oil, or traditionally semneh and then spread with soft white cheese, such as Nabulsi cheese, and topped with more pastry. In khishnah kanafeh the cheese is rolled in the pastry. A thick syrup of sugar, water, and a few drops of rose water or orange blossom water is poured on the pastry during the final minutes of cooking. Often the top layer of pastry is tinted with red food coloring (a modern shortcut, instead of baking it for long periods of time). Crushed pistachios are sprinkled on top as a garnish.

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Variants

Kanafeh Nabulsieh

Kanafeh was first mentioned in the 10th century.

It is generally believed to have originated in the Palestinian city of Nablus, hence the name Nabulsieh. Nablus is still renowned for its kanafeh, which consists of mild white cheese and shredded wheat surface, which is covered by sugar syrup. In the Levant, this variant of kanafeh is the most common. The largest plate of kanafeh was made in Nablus in an attempt to win a Palestinian citation in the Guinness World Records. It measured 75×2 meters and weighed 1,350 kilograms.

Kaday?f and künefe

The Turkish variant of the pastry kanafeh is called künefe and the wiry shreds are called tel kaday?f. A semi-soft cheese such as Urfa peyniri (cheese of Urfa) or Hatay peyniri (cheese of Hatay), made of raw milk, is used in the filling. In making the künefe, the kaday?f is not rolled around the cheese; instead, cheese is put in between two layers of wiry kaday?f. It is cooked in small copper plates, and then served very hot in syrup with clotted cream (kaymak) and topped with pistachios or walnuts. In the Turkish cuisine, there is also yass? kaday?f and ekmek kaday?f?, none of which is made of wiry shreds.

Ri?t? X?tayi

This type of Azerbaijani variant is prepared in Tabriz, Iran. "Ri?t? X?tayi" consists of meshed shreds, and is typically cooked in Ramadan in the world's biggest covered Bazaar of Tabriz. It is made of chopped walnuts, cinnamon, ginger, powder of rose, sugar, water, rose water and olive oil.

Kadaif

In this variant, called also ??????? (kataïfi) or ???????? (kadaïfi) in Greek, the threads are used to make various forms of pastries, such as tubes or birds' nests, often with a filling of chopped nuts as in baklava.

A Bosnian style kadaif pastry is made by putting down a layer of wire kadaif, then a layer of a filling of chopped nuts, then another layer of wire kadaif. The pastries are painted with melted butter, baked until golden brown, then drenched in sugar or honey syrup.