Kunafeh
Kunafeh is a well known triditional Arabic dessert. Kunafeh is crunchy shredded pastry filled with an ooey gooey mixture of mozzarella and soaked with sugar syrup.
Traditionally made from extra thin noodles of semolina flour, you can get kunafeh noodles dough from the market. As in the belgium, my near by places I couldn't find these kunafeh pastry dough so I have decided to substiute it with vermicelli noodles usually made with semolina flour, In asia you called them "sawayian" or you can replace with "pheoni". Also in my blog I will share with you the recipe of homemade dough if you can't get any of them so not a big deal!
It’s dessert! The best of dessert. Serve the Kunafa alongside a hot beverage and a few more nuts for cracking. It is best when served with vanilla ice cream or Turkish cream.
The most loved. The most popular. The most celebrated. The most versatile and dare I say the most delicious? With its dozens and dozens of fillings, shapes and forms, there’s just nothing like it.
You can make kunafeh filling of your own choice, like you can make filling with custard, creamcheese, nutella, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese its all upto your choice and this is the best thing of kunafeh! It almost always, comes with a surprise filling and sweetened with simple syrup.
Ok… I’m making Cheese Kunafa, one of the most classic and beloved kunafa variations, but in the least classic way possible. By using vermicelli noodle instead of phloe pastry dough I will still get that crunchy shredded pastry crust, oozing out with ooey gooey cheese and drenched in rose and sugar water scented syrup.
If you arn't able to find kunafeh pastry dough or semolina vermicelli noodles or pheony sawyaian then you can make dough at home.
Ingredients for Kunafeh dough :
2 & 1/4 cup of fine semolina
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp orange blossom water
1 tsp rose water
3/4 cup of milk
Directions:
In a bowl simply all above ingredients and mix them with spatula. When all the ingredients are mixed just kneed it a bit by hands.
The dough shouldn't be sticky or niether be hard, just kneed a smooth dough.
In a non stick baking dish spread the dough evenly by hands and it shouldn't be very thin just 1 to 2 cm thin.
Bake in the preheated oven at 325F or 160C for 30 minutes. Just dry it out and don't turn into any color.
Now break the dough in parts, put into the food processor and grind into fine flour. Now most important step is seive the flour.
your kunafeh dough is almost ready when you are going to make kunafeh add a little milk aroun 1/4 cup and mix it. It should be lumpy not sticky just set in the pan.
Ingredients for Kunafeh: (If you areusing vermicelli noodles)
Vermicelli noodles 350 gram
Melted butter 150 gram
Orange food color
For Fillings:
Mozzarella cheese or ricotta cheese or cream cheese 250 grams (I used mozzarella you can use anyone)
Khoya/Mawa 250 grams ( I used homemade dry milk powder khoya) https://youtu.be/871AlCMR4G4
For Sugar syrup:
Water 350grams or 2 cups
Sugar 300 grams
Green cardamon 2-3
Lemon juice or rose water 1 tablsespoon
Directions:
In a small wok bring the water, granulated sugar , green cardamon, lemon juice/rose water to a boil for 10 minutes or until the consistency is like a syrup.
Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and preheat oven to 200C/ 390F. Heavily grease a 8"x6'' pan with butter.
Crush the vermicelli noodles very finely and mix these in melted butter and orange food colour.
Transfer half the amount of konafa in the prepared pan and firmly press it on the bottom and up the sides. Make a wall with the konafa around the sides of the pan; this will help contain the filling during the baking process and prevent it from burning. Pack the konafa as tightly as possible. Use the bottom of a cup or measuring cup, to help pack it tightly and smooth out the konafa.
Spread the mozzarella cheese/ricotta cheese/ cream cheese over the layer of vermicelli or kunafeh dough.
Spread the layer of khoya over cheese layer or you can use burfi or custard also.
Scatter on the remaining half of the konafa dough or vermicelli noodles over the cream filling, lightly press it.
Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top and sides of the konafa are golden brown in color. Use a knife to push the side of the konafa, to check the color. The longer it bakes, the crunchier it gets. So bake it for less time if you prefer a softer crust.
Remove the konafa from the oven and immediately pour on the scented syrup, starting from the edge and moving towards the center, in a circular motion, making sure to cover the entire surface. Reserve leftover syrup for drizzling over individual servings.
Let the konafa rest for 5 to 10 minutes to allow for the syrup to soak in, then flip on to a serving platter. Decorate the edges with halved pistachios, or for a more traditional look, Cover the entire surface with ground out pistachios.
