Everything about Kanafeh totally explained
Kanafeh(Arabic),
kadayıf (
Turkish),
kadaif (Albanian),
kataifi,
kadaifi (Greek κα(ν)ταΐφι), is a very fine
vermicelli-like pastry used to make sweet pastries and desserts. It is sometimes known as
shredded phyllo.
Kanafeh originated in the
Arab city of
Nablus in the modern-day West Bank and the cheese used as filling is donned as
Nabulsi cheese. Another name for kanafeh is knafeh Nabulsiyye. It plays a central role in
Palestinian cuisine and is the most famous throughout the
Arab world.
It could also be found in the Balkans and is a feature of
Turkish,
Greek, and
Levantine.
Kanafeh is made by drizzling a row of thin streams of flour-and-water batter onto a turning hot plate, so they dry into long threads resembling
shredded wheat. The threads are then collected into skeins.
Another variant has a cheese filling and called
knāfeh,
kunāfah, or
kunfeh (
Arabic; كنفه (
Turkish;
Künefe).
Knafeh dough comes in three types:
- khishneh (Arabic خشنه) "rough", consisting of kadaif pastry, which looks like long thin noodle threads.
- na'ama (Arabic ناعمة) "fine", consisting of small pieces of semolina clustered together.
- mhayara (ِِArabic محيرة): which is a mixture of both khishneh and naa'ama.
The pastry is heated with some butter, margarine or palm oil for a while and then spread with soft cheese (see
Nabulsi cheese) and more pastry; or the khishneh kunafah is rolled around the cheese. A thick syrup, consisting of sugar, water and a couple of drops of lemon juice, is poured on the pastry during the final minutes of cooking.
In
Turkey, only kadayif pastry (shredded pastry;called "wire kadayif") is used for making
künefe. Kadayif isn't rolled around the cheese. Cheese is put in between two layers of wire kadayif. It is cooked in small copper plates, served very hot in syrup with clotted cream "
kaymak" and pistachio/walnut.
Often the top layer of kadaif pastry is colored using orange food coloring. Crushed
pistachios are typically sprinkled on top as a garnish.
Other variants
Kadaif
The threads are used to make pastries of various forms (tubes or nests), often with a filling of chopped nuts, like that used for
baklava. A kadaif dessert is made by layering a mat of kadaif pastry, a filling of chopped nuts, then another mat of pastry. The pastries or dessert are painted with melted butter, baked until golden brown, then drenched in sugar or honey syrup.
Kataifi is sometimes used, in
fusion cuisine, to make savory pastries.
Ekmek Kadayıfı
Ekmek kataif 'bread kataif' is a traditional Turkish dessert, similar to a
bread pudding and not containing kataif pastry. It is served with
kaymak, a kind of clotted cream.
Etymology
From the
Ottoman Turkish word قطائف [kadaif], plural of
Arabic قطعيفه [qatˁiːfah] 'velvet'. This word originally referred to a kind of
crêpe which was later cut into strips resembling modern kadaif.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Kanafeh'.
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