Knafeh[1] (Arabic: كنافة) is a traditional Arab dessert made with spun pastry dough[2][3] layered with cheese and soaked in a sweet, sugar-based syrup called attar.[4] Knafeh is a popular throughout the Arab world, especially in the Levant,[5] and is often served on special occasions and holidays.[4][6][7] The most common variant of knafeh in Jordan and Palestine, Knafeh Nabulseyeh, originated in the Palestinian city of Nablus.[8][5][9][7]
Etymology
The English language borrows the word "knafeh" from Levantine and Egyptian Arabic, and widely transliterates it as kanafeh, kenafeh, knafeh, kunafah, kunafeh, konafa, knéfé, kunafa, and similar variations.[10][11]
The ultimate origin of the word knafeh is debated. Some sources state that it comes from the Coptic Egyptian word "kenephiten", meaning a bread or cake.[12][13][10][14] Another view is that it comes from a Semitic root with a meaning of "side" or "wing", and from the Arabickanafa, "to flank or enclose".[15][16] Early uses are found in stories like One Thousand and One Nights.[10]
Homemade Knafeh from Feast: Food of the Islamic World by Anissa Helou, page 444
Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's tenth century Arabic cookbook, Kitab al-Tabikh (Book of Dishes), which documented many recipes from Abbasid courts, does not mention or describe knafeh. However, it does feature a chapter on qatayif, an Arabic pancake dumpling dessert that originated in the Fatamid Empire.[22][4] The 13th century anonymous cookbook, Kitab al tabikh fi-l-Maghrib wa-l-Andalus (Book of Dishes from Maghreb and Al-Andalus), however, gives a number of recipes for knafeh, which it describes as a pancake dumpling thinner that qatayif prepared on a flag pan. Some of the knafeh recipes in the cookbook call for layering the thin pancake with fresh cheese, baked, and topped with honey and rose syrup.[23][4]
Ibn al-Jazari gives an account of a 13th-century Mamluk period market inspector who rode through Damascus at night ensuring the quality of knafeh, qatayif, and other foods associated with Ramadan.[24] Over time, new knafeh preparation methods were developed, including a technique of dripping thin batter onto a metal sheet from a perforated container, creating hair-like strings. A mid-15th century Ottoman Turkish translation of Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi's Kitab al-Tabikh added several new contemporary knafeh recipes, though it does not specify where they originated from.[25] Today, knafeh is served throughout the Middle East, although it is "particularly associated with Nablus"[8] and considered to be a "cultural touchstone for Palestinian identity".[2]
Common variants
Knafeh Nabulseyeh served in a Nablus souk, or street market
Knafeh Nabulseyeh (Nablus, Palestine)
Knafeh has been described as a "Palestinian Institution."[8]Knafeh Nabulseyeh is a popular version of knafeh originated in the Palestinian city of Nablus,[5][9] hence the name Nabulseyeh (also spelled as Nabilsiyeh).[5] Nablus is still renowned in for its knafeh, which "is filled with the city’s trademark firm, white, salty nabulsi cheese" and covered with sweet syrup.[8][26]
Today, Knafeh Nabulseyeh is the most common variant of knafeh in Jordan and Palestine.[5] As a result, academics have described Nablus to as the modern-day knafeh capital.[2]
Knafeh Ghazawiya (Gaza Strip, Palestine)
KnafehGhazawiya is a Palestinian variant of knafeh unique to the Gaza Strip. It is made with a variety of Gazan nuts and spices, with "nutmeg and cinnamon replacing the cheese."[27]
Künefe (Hatay, Turkey)
Künefe is a variant of knafeh believed to have originated in Hatay Province, Turkey.[28][29] It is filled with a mozzarella-like local Hatay cheese and coated in "a syrup made of water, sugar and lemon juice."[28] In 2012, the EU Commission approved Antakya Künefesi, a variant of both kadayif and künefe, as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).[29]
The knafeh pastry is heated in butter, margarine, palm oil, or traditional semneh, spread with soft sweet cheese, such as Nabulsi cheese, and topped with additional pastry. In khishnah knafeh the cheese is rolled in the pastry. During the final minutes of cooking, thick sweet sugar syrup, water, and a few drops of rose water or orange blossom water are poured on the pastry. The top layer of pastry is sometimes tinted red or orange, and crushed pistachios are often sprinkled as a garnish.[8]
^The Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. "Appendix II - Semitic Roots". American Heritage Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
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