Qataʾif

qataʾif (kadayif, kunafa, knafeh), a family of Near Eastern pastries which can take the form of pancakes or a sort of dry-baked vermicelli.

The original meaning was pancake, and this is still what qataʾif (locally pronounced ʾatâyif) are in Egypt and Syria. A usual recipe is to pour leavened batter onto a greased pan and cook slowly on one side only, just until the batter is set. This half-cooked cake is folded over a sweetened cheese or nut stuffing; the raw side is tacky and the edges readily seal. The semicircular filled cakes are then deep fried. Stores sell both cooked stuffed ʿatâyif and the raw pancakes (crêpes) for stuffing and frying at home. This pastry is also found in Turkey, where it is known as dolma kadayif.

Medieval Arabic cookbooks record this recipe, and also describe leavened qataʾif which were served simply with honey and sesame oil.

However, at least as early as the 9th century the most highly regarded medieval qataʾif were unleavened and made as thin as possible, and the batter might consist of an ounce of thickener (in the form of wheat starch which in its dried form was called nisha), an ounce of water, and an egg white. They were not fried in a greased pan but very slowly cooked on a sheet of polished metal (sometimes referred to as a mirror) wiped with a cloth full of wax and walnut meats. The resulting thin crêpes were wrapped around a sort of marzipan called lauzînaj, and by extension the crêpes themselves were sometimes confusingly called lauzînaj.

This paper-thin crêpe cooked on the ‘mirror’ was also known as kunafa in Arabic. The 13th-century recipes for kunafa do not wrap these crêpes around a filling but serve them hot with butter and honey, pancake fashion. Some of the recipes call for the crêpes first to be cut up with scissors: ‘the size of rose petals’ or even ‘as small as possible’.

The modern Egyptian or Syrian kunâfa is clearly descended from this dish, but it is made in a different way. Instead of being cooked as a crêpe, the batter is dribbled on to the heated sheet of metal from a perforated container (kunafiyya), making threads that look like vermicelli. The heated metal sheet dries them and they are subsequently baked or fried with plenty of butter in various forms, but always with a filling.

The filling is usually of walnuts, almonds, or pistachios—chopped or ground, perhaps moistened with a little rosewater and sugar. Or a filling of sweetened cheese or clotted cream (see kaymak) may be inserted after cooking.

Sometimes the threads are baked to form flat baklava-like cakes (basma), with the filling sandwiched between layers of dough.

In the Arab countries, kunâfa became the name for this dry-cooked vermicelli. In Turkey, the vermicelli pastry was called tel kadayifi, which literally means ‘string qataʾif’, a nicely expressive term. This name, with, or more often without, the word tel, has passed into usage in neighbouring countries such as Iran (where it is ghatayef) and Greece (kataifi).

By extension, the Turks use the name ekmek kadayif (bread kadayif) for a rich sweet made by soaking bread in syrup and butter. In Egypt it is known as ʿeish al-sarâya (palace bread) and ʿeish ekmek kadayif.