Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Qatayif


With Ramadan less than two months away I thought I would share a recipe for another food commonly eaten during Ramadan. This time it’s a desert called Qatayif. Qatayif is somewhat similar to a dumpling served with nuts or cheese. For this recipe I am going to stuff it with cheese.

Ingredients

  • ¼  teaspoon active dry yeast (scant)
  • 1 ½ cups lukewarm water
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus up to
  • ¼  cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 pinch salt
  • butter (for cooking)
  • peanut oil (for frying) or vegetable oil (for frying)
  • 2/3 cup coarsely grated kinafa sweet cheese
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
  • ¾ cup water


Recipe

  1. In a medium bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the flour and salt and stir well.
  2. Let stand, loosely covered for 45 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, prepare the filling by mixing together the cheese, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Set aside.
  4. Heat a small heavy skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Lightly brush the skillet with butter.
  5. Stir the batter well to blend.
  6. Scoop up about 2 1/2 Tablespoons batter into a ladle and pour onto the skillet to make a 4-inch round. Cook until bubbles appear on the top and the top has a dull surface, about 1 minute and 20 seconds. The underside should be lightly browned.
  7. Transfer to a tray cooked side down.
  8. Continue making the pancakes the same way until the batter is finished.
  9. To fill the pancake, scoop up about a teaspoon of filling and place it on the cooked pancake.
  10. Fold the pancake over and pinch the edges together to make a sealed half circle shape.
  11. Set aside on a plate, and repeat with the remaining batter and filling.
  12. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  13. Drizzle some melted butter-flavored Crisco into the bottom of a baking pan.
  14. Transfer the Qatayif to the baking pan and brush the tops with more melted butter-flavored Crisco.
  15. Bake for 10-15 minutes flipping the Qatayif about halfway through.
  16. Mix together water and 1 and ½ cups of sugar in a saucepan and heat to boiling.
  17. Allow to boil approximately five minutes and add in a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
  18. Allow to cool slightly.
  19. Using a slotted spoon, lower one Qatayif into the syrup mixture. Submerge and remove to a serving plate. Repeat with remaining Qatayif.



Serving Suggestions:

Qatayif is served warm. It is common to sprinkle the top of the Qatayif with crushed pistachios.

Variations:

The most common variation to this recipe is to stuff the Qatayif with chopped nuts instead of cheese. Some people like to fry their Qatayif as opposed to baking it in the oven.

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