The Palestinian city of Nablus is the origin of this sweet and savoury dessert. Ask a Nablusi what Nablus is famous for and you’ll likely hear two things – soap and Kunafeh. The city’s olive soap is legendary. The kunafeh pastry is popular and a Nablus’s trademark. while kun-afeh is prepared throughout the Levant, it is the Nablus city that remains known for this pas-try. The city even made it to Guinness Book of World Records with the largest kunafeh weighing over 2,900lbs.
The dessert is made in several different ways and chefs often boast of theirs to be the best. Unsalted cheese is layered between two layers of shredded kunafeh dough. After baking, the pastry is drizzled with fragrant sugar syrup and garnished with chopped pistachio. Although each country has a slightly different way of preparing it, the basics are cheese, semolina dough and lots and lots of sugar syrup. These days, people have started to diverge from the traditional way of indulging in this dessert. For the local Nablus’s, kunafeh is not just a dessert it is a pleasant street food consumed at all the times of the day.
I am going to modify this recipe and use hazelnut Nutella as the filling. Also instead of the regular flat shape I’ll be preparing this pastry in cone shape filled with Nutella. So try this delicious and unique kunafeh recipe this Ramadan and make your Iftar special.
Kunafeh Cones
Ingredients
For sugar syrup
Castor sugar 2 cups
Water 1 cup
Lemon juice few drops
For Kunafeh cones
Kunafeh 500 gm
Clarified butter 3/4 cup
Chocolate hazelnut spread 3/4 cup
For whipping cream
Castor sugar 1 tbsp
Corn starch 1 tsp
Whipping cream 1 cup
Vanilla extract 1/2 tsp
For topping
Pistachio to garnish
Method
In a heavy bottom sauce pan boil water, sugar and few drops of lemon juice and reduce to half and keep aside for kunafeh cones.
Take about a 2cm wide strand of kunafeh and start rolling on the middle of a cone; tightly wrap the remaining strand over the end to cover the cone completely.
Overlap the strands to cover the cone shells and secure the kunafeh with moist hands.
Repeat the above process with the remaining kunafeh dough.
Place the wrapped kunafeh cones on a baking tray; place butter paper on top and let it air dry for 3-4 hours to become crisp and hold its shape.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 380 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake them on their sides and flip every 10 minutes to allow even baking.
Once the kunafeh is light brown, drizzle with warm clarified butter.
Bake for 2-3 minutes for the butter to be absorbed, drizzle the cones with sugar syrup, roll the cones in the drippings to evenly absorb the syrup.
Transfer the cones to wire rack and allow excess sugar syrup to drip out; once cooled down remove the steel cones.
Refrigerate if the kunafeh cones do not come out. This helps to remove the cones easily.
In a small sauce pan, combine sugar and corn starch and stir in 1/2 cup of cream.
Bring the mixture to boil to activate the corn starch and thicken, simmer for few seconds only and remove from flame.
In a chilled mixing bowl, whip the remaining cream until stiff peak and add the cooled down corn starch mixture, combine well.
Fill the prepared stabilised cream and hazelnut Nutella spread in two piping bags.
Fill kunafeh shells with cream mixture almost 3/4th of the shell and fill in the hazelnut in the remaining shell.
Sprinkle the top of cones with chopped pistachio or your choice of garnish like chocolate chips. Serve immediately.
Note: Kunafeh is available in ground form also, but this recipe calls for the long strands of kunafeh. Frozen kunafeh dough needs to be thawed before you can roll them onto the cones.
You can replace the stabilised whipping cream with sweetened whipping cream to make it easier for you.
Try and fill some seasonal fruits like mangoes, strawberry, raspberry to make fresh fruit kunafeh cone.
* Chef Tarun Kapoor,
Culinary Mastermind, USA. He may be contacted at [email protected]