Knafeh

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]

A common story is that the dish was created, and prescribed by doctors, to satisfy the hunger of caliphs during Ramadan. The story is variously said to have happened in Fatimid Egypt, or in the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus, Syria, where Levantine dessert makers prepared it for Mu'awiya I, to reduce hunger during fasting in Ramadan.^[19][20] It is also reported to have been mentioned in writing as early as the tenth century, and to be of Fatimid origin.^[21][22][23] However, dishes mentioned in historical texts are not necessarily the same as the modern versions of kanafeh.

Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's tenth century Kitab al-Tabikh (Book of Dishes), a collection of Arabic recipes and food advice of the 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]

Ibn al-Jazari gives an account of a 13th-century market inspector who rode through Damascus at night, ensuring the quality of kunāfa, qatā'if, and other foods associated with Ramadan, during the Mamluk period.^[26]

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]

 

 

There are many types of kanafeh pastry:^{[28][better source needed]}

• 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 semneh and then spread with soft sweet 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 or orange food coloring (a modern shortcut, instead of baking it for long periods of time). Crushed pistachios are sprinkled on top as a garnish.

 

Kanafeh Nabulsieh originated in the Palestinian city of Nablus,^[8][29] 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.^[30] In the Middle East, this variant of kanafeh is the most common.

 

In the Hatay region of Turkey, which was formerly part of Syria and has a large Arab population, the pastry is called künefe and the wiry shreds are called tel kadayıf. 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.^[31] In making the künefe, the kadayıf is not rolled around the cheese; instead, cheese is put in between two layers of wiry kadayıf. 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 yassı kadayıf and ekmek kadayıfı, none of which is made of wiry shreds.

The EU Commission approved ‘Antakya Künefesi' from Hatay, Türkiye as Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).^[32]

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]

 

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]

It is eaten all year round, and in some cultures is also associated with special occasions and religious festivals.

This variant is specific to Gaza in Palestine, although a legend tells about its creation in 7th-century Arabia at the wish of Prophet Muhammad's companion, Ali ibn Abi Talib, which would make it the oldest type of knafeh. It is made of soft bulgur, cinnamon, pecan nuts, and dairy fats.^[35]

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]

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

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

•   Media related to Kanafeh at Wikimedia Commons