Kunafa is a traditional Middle Eastern dessert made with spun pastry called kataifi, soaked in a sweet, sugar-based syrup called attar, and typically layered with cheese, or with other ingredients such as clotted cream, pistachio nuts, depending on the region.
It is a dessert specialty of areas in the Levant, mainly Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. Originating between the 10th and 15th centuries, kunafa’s name comes from the Circassian word chnafah, which means "bulbul color." The bulbul is a songbird found throughout the Middle East and Turkey and the dough in knafeh is often colored with reddish or orange food dye to imitate the color of the bird's vent
Different spellings of the word are used in different countries and include knafeh, konafa, kunefe, kenafe, knefeh, and kunafa, the root word being 'kanaf', which means to shelter or protect in Arabic.
According to history derived from a variety of legends and stories, the dessert was created during the 7th century in a Syrian city called Damascus by Muawiyah I. The stories say he asked his cook to prepare a dish rich or great enough to serve during Ramadan.
Kunafa then made its way to the Levant through the Turkish Ottomans, when the Palestinians adopted the recipe and enhanced the flavor to its modern state. Their addition was simply stuffing the pastry with cheese and then garnishing it with a touch of margarine, sugar syrup and sprinkles of crushed pistachio.
Kunafa is available in two different types, na’ameh and khishneh. Na’ameh is very smooth, with ground semolina dough or farkeh used for the topping. Khishneh is much rougher with crunchy pieces of pastry created using shredded dough or kataifi for the topping.
Kunafa or Knafeh - Middle Eastern dessert
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