Delicious mozzarella kunafa, pistachio kunafa/ kanafah/ Kanafe

Knafeh / Kanafeh/ Kunafa, is a delicious cheese dessert made with kadaif noodles. This dessert or dessert is specific to Middle Eastern countries and although it has Palestinian roots, it has become so popular in Turkey that many consider it a Turkish dessert. This sweet or dessert is pronounced in Arabic Kanafeh and in Turkish Kunefe. Kunefe has a wonderful taste and is added to the syrup after cooking.

There are different types of kunafa, kunafa with cream, Mozzarella cheese kunafa, pistachio kunafa, Kunafa nabulsi and others.

Pistachio Kunafa/ Kanafe 

It is one of the most delicious types of Arab sweets, famous in the Levant in general. It consists of two layers of soft and roasted konafa/ kunafa, and in the middle of them is a layer of crunchy pistachios (Pistachio Kernel) and flavored with delicious rose water. Here is the easiest way to make a soft kunafa with pistachios.

Recipe ingredients:

500 gm kunafa/ kanafeh

1 cup melted ghee

1/4 cup of syrup

Filling:

2 cups crushed pistachios

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup of syrup (syrup, sherbet)

1 tablespoon of blossom water

To Serve:

Qatar (syrup, sherbet), ground pistachios

How to prepare:

• Get a 12- or 13-inch round tray.
• In a deep dish, put the kunafa. Pour half a cup of ghee. Add the syrup. With your fingertips, I heart the kunafa to imbibe with ghee and syrup. Cut the kunafa into small bristles while stirring.
• Take half the amount of kunafa and put it in the tray. Press the konafa to become a flat layer in the tray.
• Filling: In a deep dish, put the pistachios, sugar, sugar syrup and orange blossom water. Using a plastic spoon my heart pistachios to mix with the diameter.
• Spread the pistachios on the kunafa. Distribute the rest of the kunafa on the pistachios. Press on the kunafa to stick to the pistachio well. Bring a tray a little smaller than the size of the tray in which the kunafa is. Put it on the kunafa. Put a weight on the upper tray and leave the kunafa for an hour or two so that the layers stick together well and become one piece.
• Install the mesh rack in the center of the oven. Heat the oven to a temperature of 180°C.
• Get rid of the weight and the top tray. Distribute the rest of the melted ghee on the kunafa.
• Put the konafa tray in the oven for 30 minutes, until it becomes golden in color.
• Take the kunafa/ knafeh out of the oven and flip it directly onto a serving platter. Distribute the syrup and spread the pistachios.
• Then serve Pistachio kunafa warm or cold.

Mozzarella cheese kunafa:

Ingredients for Knafeh:

Wet knafeh half closed or 200 grams

Butter or semi-solid oil 100 g

Concentrated brewed saffron 1 tsp

Unsalted mozzarella cheese as needed

1 cup sugar

Half a glass of water

Brewed saffron thick enough

Lemon juice 1 tsp

Cardamom powder or rose (optional) in the required amount

To prepare the first Kunefe dessert, we prepare its syrup:

1- Mix sugar and water in a bowl and put it on medium heat until it boils and the sugar is completely dissolved and the syrup becomes clear.

Then brew saffron and add lemon juice and turn off the heat and let the syrup cool down a bit at room temperature. You can also use two spoons of rose water or some cardamom in the syrup as you wish.

2- Pour the strings of tel Kunefe into a container and open and crush the strings with a little hand.

Melt the butter or solid oil in a pan and add to the strings.

3- And mix by hand until all the strands are completely soaked in oil. Optional use of butter or semi-solid oil is usually made with hemp butter, but for some people the smell of butter in the dessert is annoying.

You can brew a teaspoon of saffron and add it to the noodles to make it more colorful and mix the noodles thoroughly to get color.

4- Pour half of the noodles into the mold for the veneer and then squeeze and smooth it completely by hand, because the noodles are soaked in oil, there is no need to grease the dish and it separates very easily after cooking, but if you like, you can remove the dish very little. Grease.

(With the butter or semi-solid oil you used in the pastry)

5- Chop the mozzarella cheese (my cheese was small in size and I only cut it in half) and cover the center of the Kunefe with cheese, but be careful not to place the cheeses next to the dessert and near the wall, because when cooking the Kunefe and after Melting cheeses may come out of the sides and burn, ruining the appearance of the hemp.

After placing the cheese on the knafeh/ kunafa, place the next half of the strings on the cheeses.

6- And squeeze it completely with your hand,

You can also use the back of a spoon for cohesiveness and smoothing, and then place the second part of the cannabis mold upside down on the strings and press it by hand to make it smooth and cohesive.

7- Put the cannabis mold on low heat to cook and fry. When the edges and sides of the hemp turned golden.

8- Put the next side of the cannabis mold on it and turn it over with the help of the cannabis mold

 And let the other side of the hemp cook and turn golden.

9- After cooking, put the hemp in a container and pour the syrup that has been warmed or cooled at room temperature on the hemp and let it rest for a while.

 And the syrup is absorbed by the hemp and after the syrup, take it out and decorate it with sliced pistachios and rose petals

This dessert must be served hot so that the cheese inside the dessert is warm and elastic. Hemp is usually served with butter or ice cream, but you can also enjoy it with tea.

Click here to Read Kunafa Nabulsi Recipe if you like