Kunafa

Kanafah / Kunafe or Kunafah is a dessert served in the mediterranean and middle eastern region.. A crsipy exterior with a sweet and molten cheese in the interior, creates a magical wonder on your palette.. No wonder this dessert had to be my favourite apart from anything chocolaty.. Im a very big cheese lover, and also have a craving for anything sweet tooth..

                The first time i was introduced to this dessert was through a food group on fb, wherein one of the members posted the pic and also the recipe.. It was soo fascinating and drool worthy, that it got me hooked to it for long.. And the ingredients surprised me even more.. Mozarella cheese was one of the main ingredients used in this dessert.. Never did I think that mozarella can be used in the making of a dessert.. This is what actually piqued my interest in this delicious dessert and I had to give it a try.. And so my research on this dessert started..

                For the crisp outer layer, a special type of pastry known as katifi is used.. It is basically a shredded phyllo dough.. As it is difficult to find in the place i live, i had to look for an alternative.. And so i came across one of the recipes online which suggests using sutar feni in place of katifi.. Sutar Feni (fine thread like ) is generally found in any local sweet shops round the year.. Though one gets to see this in bulk during sankranti time.. I could lay my hands upon this feni very easily, and so there was no stop for me in making this dessert.. Make sure it is sugarless feni, otherwise you will end up with a sickeningly sweet dessert..

                Now coming to the main interior part of the dessert, it is completely stuffed with cheese.. You could either use a combination of mozarella and ricotta cheese or only mozarella.. Both worked fine.. I decided to use a combination of both the cheese as i only mozarella would make it a very heavy dessert.. Use which ever cheese you like, keep in mind to use unsalted cheese and also a stringy cheese like mozarella..

                Ok, now you must be wondering where does it get its sweetness from.. When the outer layer is sugarless and there is no sugar added to the cheese filling.. If you see, in most of the middle easter desserts, sugar syrup is used in the end to sweeten the dessert once the dessert is made.. Be it kunafah, basbousa or baklava.. It is sweetened by pouring sugar syrup at the end and giving it a standing time from few minutes to hours to soak the syrup depending on the dessert.. And so, we would be doing the same..

                This dessert is generally baked till you get a golden color exterior.. But few recipes online even suggested making this dessert in a heavy bottomed pan, cooking over a medium low flame and then flipping it in another pan to cook the other side.. This method is supposed to be time saving.. Would try this next time.. As of now would like to go for the baked version..

                Kunafah is extremely rich and high in calories... So limit yourself to a smaller portion.. I know its hard to resist when you have the goodness of cheese combined with sweetness of a dessert.. Never mind.. Will balance it out some other time.. ;) Now its upto you to decide, how or how much you would like to have it..

Over to the recipe now...

Ingredients:

For the outer layer

250gms of sutarfeni / katifi dough shredded (i used feni)

1/2 cup unsalted melted butter

For the filling

1 cup mozarella grated

1 cup ricotta grated

For the sugar syrup

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1tbsp milk

1tsp orange blossom water / rose water

For garnish

Few Pistachios chopped

Method - To make the sugar syrup, heat water and sugar together over medium flame and bring to boil.. Add in few lemon juice and clear the scum.. Boil this syrup for 2-3minutes and switch off the flame.. Add in orange blossom water / rose water and place it in fridge to cool.. Now mix the butter and sutarfeni really well till all the butter is absorbed by the feni.. Take a ring mould or loose bottom pie dish and grease it with butter.. Layer half of the feni in the mould covering the sides too. Press it firmly with the help of a spoon.. Mix both the cheese and fill it in the mould.. Again cover with remainig half of feni and press it firmly.. Bake in a preheated oven at 180c for 40-45mins till the top is golden brown in color.. Remove from the oven.. Pour syrup while it is still warm.. Leave it for 5minutes till it absorbs the syrup.. Serve.. It is best had immediately.. If you want to serve it later, then heat it again for a few seconds and then pour the syrup just before serving.. 

Note - Feni already have large amount of fat in it.. I would use less quantity of butter next time.. 

Donot boil the sugar syrup for long.. Otherwise it becomes very thick on cooling and cannot be poured easily..