KATAÏFI

Fyllo and syrup pastries are very common in the Middle East, the Balkans & northern Africa. Today's post features kataïfi (greek term for kadayif), which is made with a kind of fyllo that comes in threads. The fyllo is, or used to be, prepared in traditional workshops. I remember such a place from my childhood. It was across the street from my house and its owner very proud of his trade. To make the fyllo, dough is poured from a round pan with holes into a container where hot air cooks each thread as it falls in. Back in the '70s, we never made kataïfi at home but I recently found that some versions are not so difficult to tackle.

Kataïfi is filled with either chopped nuts or pastry cream. The nuts can be walnuts, almonds, pistachios or a combination. In Turkey and the Middle East the pastry cream is often replaced with kaymak (that resembles clotted cream). Another variation is ekmek kadayif, in which the pastry cream is flavored with mastic and the dessert covered with a layer of whipped cream. The kataïfi we typically enjoyed in my childhood was filled with nuts. The fyllo was divided into lanes and each lane was rolled with a spoonful of nuts at the centre. The rolls were tightly fitted in a pan, baked and then drizzled with syrup. The version with pastry cream is more often built in layers. However, the methods can be reversed and you can have nut-filled kataïfi in layers and cream-filled kataïfi in individual rolls.

 

 

A musical gathering (Ottoman miniature, 18th century)

 

Kataïfi recipes vary in their percentage of nuts, butter and sugar and I have even found a recipe that uses olive oil. Suryps can also be made with a combination of sugar and honey or even glucose. Oddly enough, the lightest recipe I've seen is dated from 1764. It was featured in The Ottoman Cuisine: 99 Court Recipes (2013) by Marianna Gerasimou. The royal version of Turkish kadayif was made with pre-cooked fyllo and therefore a little heavy on the stomach but the adapted recipe omits this part and is easier.

Kataïfi without pastry cream tends to be overly sweet, like baklava. That's why people from other parts of the world don't like it very much. I'm not a big fan either but since it was my father's weakness, I came to love it by sight. Like other types of syrup dessert, kataïfi is best enjoyed with a glass of water. Alternatively, it's served with mastic-flavored ice cream. Individual rolls of fyllo pastries sold in the market today, including kataïfi, are usually bite-sized.

 

 

KATAÏFI

In the following version, the Ottoman recipe is increased by 25%, except for the amount of walnuts that is doubled. Remember to shake the fyllo very well because the threads are usually stuck in the package. If you make individual pastries, you will have to take care not to break the threads. In either version, you must butter the fyllo very well. That's what pre-cooking achieves, otherwise it's a good idea to mass the threads with your fingers. Alternatively, pour the butter over each layer of fyllo and mix as well as you can, using a spoon. This is relatively easy to do in the nut-filled version but not so when the filling is made of pastry cream.

I n g r e d i e n t s

500g kataïfi fyllo

250g walnuts, chopped

225g butter, melted

2 1/4tbsp cinnamon, ground

for the syrup

500g sugar

300ml water

juice of 1/2 lemon

M e t h o d

1. Brush a 28-30cm round baking pan with melted butter. Combine the walnuts and cinnamon in a bowl. 2. Shake the fyllo, taking care not to break the threads. Arrange half of it on the bottom of the pan, covering the second half with a damp towel. 3. Scatter the walnuts on top of the fyllo, keeping aside 1-2 spoonfuls of the nuts for decoration. Cover with the second half of the fyllo and drizzle with the butter. Alternatively, pour half of the butter over the first layer of fyllo and/or mass with your fingers to make sure it's everywhere. Repeat with the second layer of fyllo and the remaining butter. 4. Bake at 200oC for 30 minutes or until golden. Kataïfi fyllo burns easily so cover with aluminum foil halfway through baking time, if you need to. 5. Make sure the bottom is well done. If not, continue baking for another 5-10 minutes, using the bottom heat element. 6. Leave to cool at room temperature. 7. Prepare the syrup by cooking the sugar, water and lemon juice for 5 minutes. Drizzle over the cool pastry and scatter with a few chopped walnuts, or pistachios, if liked. 8. Serve warm or cold.

V a r i a t i o n s

1. To make pastry-filled kataïfi, use 1lt whole milk, 200ml heavy cream, 150g sugar, 120g cornflour (or rice flour). Alternatively, omit the heavy cream, increase the cornflour to 160g, add 115g butter and 3 whole eggs. This is Egyptian konefa, Turkish, künefe, Middle-eastern knafeh, consisting of two layers of fyllo with one layer of cream in between. The finished dessert is scattered with ground pistachios.
   
2. Ekmek kadayif is a Turkish version of the cream-filled pastry, made with a layer of fyllo (with 300g kataïfi), topped with pastry cream, and decorated with a lattice pattern of whipped cream. A more substantial version uses a layer of crustless bread first, then a layer of fyllo, another of pastry cream and finally the whipped cream. Fyllo in both versions is lightly cooked in the oven before arranging the layers. It's then syruped (not buttered), topped with the creams and scattered with ground pistachios. Because the pastry cream is not syruped, you might want to increase the sugar to 200g.
   

 

N o t e s

• Some recipes will have kataïfi turned upside down and placed in the oven again. This way both sides are crisp. Ideally, bake kataïfi in a pan made of glass so you can keep an eye on the bottom. 
• If you make individual rolls, leave a bit of space among them while fitting in the pan, otherwise your kataïfi won't be crispy. For the same reason, it's important that syrup and pastry are combined at different temperatures. Either make the syrup in advance, refrigerate and use while the pastry is hot, or make the pastry first and when it's cool enough, boil the syrup and use immediately. Finally, leftover pastry must not be covered, or the fyllo will lose its crispiness.
• For light-textured kataïfi, avoid rolling the individual pastries tightly.
• To prevent the filling (especially if it's pastry cream) from running out at various stages, tuck in the edges carefully.
• Experts, like Claudia Roden and Elika Pavlidou that I've read, advise to cook the syrup for 10-15 minutes after boiling point. If you do, the syrup will get as thick as caramel if left to stand, even outside the refrigerator. You can thin out and boil again, however other recipes allow for the syrup to be cooked only 5 minutes and used immediately on cool pastry.