Knafeh

Knafeh

Alternative names	Kunafeh Kunafa Kanafeh Knafeh Konafi Kunaftah Künefe Kinafa
Type	Dessert
Place of origin	Nablus[1]
Region or state	Arab world
Serving temperature	Warm, room temperature or cold (qishta variety)
Main ingredients	Dough Sugar Cheese Almonds Pistachios Rose water Kaymak
Variations	Multiple
Media: Knafeh

Knafeh

In Arabic, the name may refer to the string pastry itself, or to the entire dessert dish. In Turkish, the string pastry is known as tel kadayıf, and the cheese-based dessert that uses it as künefe. In Turkey, it is called künefe.[10] In the Balkans, the shredded dough is similarly known as kadaif/cataif,^[11] and in Greece as kadaifi, and is the basis of various dishes rolled or layered with it, including dessert pastries with nuts and sweet syrups.

Etymology

The English language borrows the word "knafeh" from Levantine and Egyptian Arabic, and widely transliterates it as kanafeh, kenafeh, knafeh, kunafah, kunafeh, konafa, knéfé, kunafa, and similar variations.^[12][13]

The ultimate origin of kanafeh is debated. Some sources state that it comes from the Coptic Egyptian word "kenephiten", meaning a bread or cake.^{[14][15][12][16]} Early attestations are found in stories like One Thousand and One Nights.^[12] Another view is that it comes from a Semitic root with a meaning of "side" or "wing", from the Arabic kanafa, "to flank or enclose".^[17][18]

History

A common story is that the dish was created, and prescribed by doctors, to satisfy the hunger of

Abbasid caliphs, mentions neither the word kunāfa, nor a description of the dish as it is known today. However, it does feature a chapter on desserts made with the related qatāyif, meaning crêpes, from which the Turkish word kadayıf and Greek word kataïfi derive. In one recipe, qatāyif are stuffed with nuts, deep-fried, and topped with honey-sugar syrup, which is essentially unchanged in today's version. Also described are large thin crêpes resembling fabric, called ruqāq, cooked on a round sheet of metal called a tābaq, layered with fruit, and drenched with sugar.^[24][6]

The 13th century anonymous Kitab al tabikh fi-l-Maghrib wa-l-Andalus (Book of Dishes from Maghreb and Al-Andalus) uses the word 'kunāfa' to describe a crêpe made with thin batter on an Indian pan or "mirror" (the tābaq), and says it is equivalent to ruqāq. It also gives a recipe for Abbasid Qatāyif (the crêpes being called musahhada in Al-Andalus), which uses the same batter, but the kunāfa is made thinner, "like a fine tissue". It gives a number of dessert recipes for kunāfa, where the crêpes are served layered with fresh cheese, baked, and topped with honey and rose syrup; or cut up into shreds like rose leaves and cooked with honey, nuts, sugar, and rosewater.^[25][6]

In the later Middle Ages, a new technique was created, with thin batter being dripped onto the metal sheet from a perforated container, creating hair-like strings. A mid-15th century Ottoman Turkish translation of Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi's Kitab al-Tabikh added several new contemporary recipes, including one for this kadayif, though it does not specify where it originated.^[27] This became the basis for the modern kunafa/kanafeh. It is fried together with butter and fillings or toppings such as nuts, sweetened cheese, or clotted cream, and mixed with rosewater and sugar. The pastry spread from the Arab lands to neighboring countries including Iran and Greece, and to Turkey where the string pastry itself is known as tel kadayıf ("string crêpes"), also used in related pastries such as dolma kadayif.^[6]

Preparation

There are many types of kanafeh pastry:

• khishnah (
  Arabic
  : خشنة, rough): crust made from long thin noodle threads.
• nāʿimah (
  Arabic
  : ناعمة, fine): semolina dough.
• muhayara (
  Arabic
  : محيرة, mixed): a mixture of khishnah and na'ama.
• mabruma (
  Arabic
  : مبرومة, twined): It is prepared with noodle.

The pastry is heated in butter, margarine, palm oil, or traditionally

Kanafeh Nabulsieh originated in the

This northern Iranian variant is prepared in Tabriz, Iran. Riştə xətayi is typically cooked in Ramadan in the world's biggest covered Bazaar of Tabriz. It is made with chopped walnuts, cinnamon, ginger, powder of rose, sugar, rose water and olive oil.^[33]

Kadaif

In this variant, called also καταΐφι (kataïfi) or κανταΐφι (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.

These very thin threads are also known as "kadaif noodles" and are used to make the outer shell of the Greek dessert kataifi. These vermicelli-like threads become very crispy when fried or baked. For this particular Greek dessert, the filling is usually a blend of coarsely chopped nuts, such as walnuts and pistachios, mixed with honey and a light cream.^[34]

Gaza knafeh

This variant originated in Gaza Strip, Palestine, and is made of soft bulgur, cinnamon, pecan nuts, and dairy fats.^[35]

World records

The world's largest plate of the dessert was made in Antakya, Turkey, in 2017. The tray of künefe measured 78 meters long, and weighed 1550 kilograms.^[36] A previous record attempt was made in Nablus in 2009, with a 75-meter tray, weighing 1,350 kilograms.^[37] Neither attempt was officially listed as breaking the record; according to the website of the Guinness World Records, there is no current record holder for the title.^[38]

See also

• List of pastries
• Palestinian cuisine
• Phyllo
• Qatayef, a dumpling-like confection involving some of the same ingredients

Gallery

• 
  Knafeh in Jerusalem
• 
  Knafeh (na'ama) fine
• 
  Knafeh Nabulsieh
• 
  Knafeh shop, old city of Jerusalem
• 
  Knafeh with pistachio

References