Recipe: Knafeh
Turkish künefe, or knafeh as you eat it in Lebanon or Syria; we absolutely love it. Shredded pastry (called kataifi) is fried until crisp in a mixture of butter and milk, with a filling of soft, warm cheese, and covered with sugar syrup. Crisp, savory, sweet and rich: knafeh has it all. Here’s how to make knafeh yourself.
How to make knafeh
Start with the sugar syrup:
- Add the water and sugar to a small saucepan and slowly bring to a boil. Then lower the heat, simmer gently for about 5 minutes and add the slice of lemon. Turn the heat all the way down and leave it while you make the rest. For the knafeh, follow the steps below.
- Grate the tresse or akkawi and add it to a bowl of cold water. Drain and fill the bowl with fresh water. Repeat four times to desalinate the cheese. Drain and let it drain as well as possible on a clean, dry tea towel. You can skip this step if you are only using mozzarella.
- Melt the ghee in a small saucepan or in the microwave, then add the yellow food coloring if desired. Add the kataifi pastry and melted ghee to a bowl and mix well.
- Grease a 30 cm nonstick frying pan with some ghee, place the kataifi pastry in the pan and press down firmly. Spoon the grated tresse, akkawi or mozzarella and the 75 grams of grated mozzarella into the center of the pastry, leaving a 1.5 cm border.
- Heat the pan over medium heat, not directly above the heat source, so that only the edge is heated. The base should become slightly crisp, but the cheese also needs to melt, so we need to work slowly and carefully. Stay by the stove for about 10 minutes and rotate the pan every few seconds so the heat is distributed evenly underneath the pan, until you see the edges of the pastry turn golden brown and the cheese has melted.
- Take a plate that is larger than the pan. Place the plate upside down on the pan and carefully but quickly turn it over so that the pastry is on top.
- Turn up the heat under the syrup and heat for 1 minute. Spoon a few tablespoons of hot syrup over the pastry. You won’t need all the syrup, so don’t overdo it. Garnish with the chopped pistachios and serve immediately while the knafeh is still warm.
Title: Imad’s Syrian Kitchen
Author: Imad Alarnab
Price: €29.95
Publisher: Good Cook B.V.
Imad’s Syrian Kitchen is not just a cookbook; it also tells the story of Imad Alarnab, chef and owner of, among other things, three successful restaurants in Damascus. From respected citizen to refugee. Just under six years later, after many ups and downs, Alarnab opened Imad’s Syrian Kitchen in London. His impressive story runs like a common thread throughout this cookbook and explains, among other things, how eating and cooking together connect and bring people closer. From traditional Syrian dishes to signature dishes he developed over the years as a chef.
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