Kadaif
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kadaif, kadayıf (Turkish), kataifi, kadaifi (Greek κα(ν)ταΐφι), knāfeh, kunāfah, or kunfeh (Arabic كنافة) is a very fine vermicelli-like pastry used to make sweet pastries and desserts. It is sometimes known as shredded phyllo.
It is found from the Balkans to the Levant, and is a feature of Turkish, Greek, and Levantine cuisine.
Kadaif 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.[1]
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. Another variant has a cheese filling.
Kataifi is sometimes used, in fusion cuisine, to make savory pastries.[2]
The knafeh from the Palestinian city of Nablus (called Knafeh Nabulsiyye) is the most famous throughout the Arab world, and also somewhat popular among Israelis.
Knafeh dough comes in three types:
- khishneh (Arabic خشنة) "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.
Often the top layer of kadaif pastry is colored using orange food coloring. Crushed pistachios are typically sprinkled on top as a garnish.
[edit] Etymology
From the Ottoman Turkish word قطائف [kadajf], plural of Arabic قطيفه [qatˁiːfah] 'velvet'. This word originally referred to a kind of crêpe which was later cut into strips resembling modern kadaif.
