Kunafa, Künefe, or Knafeh — a rich Middle Eastern dessert made of dough threads and cheese, soaked in syrup. A piece of the Orient with its wonderful aromas! We like to serve it with coffee after a meal; everyone cuts themselves a “slice of cake” and pours the hot, fragrant syrup over it as they please.

The kadayif dough threads needed for this can be found — here in Vienna — in a Turkish supermarket. They are also known as angel hair.

Ingredients:

300 g Kadayif dough threads
120 g butter
250 g ricotta (I like to use a bit more)
30 g pistachios

For the syrup:
250 ml water
90 g sugar
juice of half a lemon
rose water (I also like to use vanilla if I don’t have rose water)

1.5 tbsp butter for frying

Tear the Kadayif threads into a large bowl; they shouldn’t be too long. Melt the butter and pour it over the shredded dough threads. Mix everything well.

For the syrup, place all ingredients — water, lemon juice, sugar, and rose water — in a small pot, bring to a boil, and then simmer for 10 minutes.

Continue with the pastry: In a pan about 25 cm in diameter, heat half of the 1.5 tbsp butter and spread half of the butter-soaked Kadayif in the pan, pressing them down lightly. Spread the ricotta evenly on top, leaving about 1–2 cm free around the edges. Then distribute the remaining pastry threads on top and press lightly. Fry over medium heat for 8–10 minutes per side until golden brown. During frying, you can shape the “disc” a little from the sides with a wooden spatula or similar.
For flipping, it’s best to use a large plate.

Finally, toast the pistachios and serve everything while still warm – everyone can sweeten it with syrup as they like. Or, soak the pastry directly in the syrup and sprinkle the pistachios on top before serving.

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