Kunafa is an Arabic dessert, which is popular in Egypt & Levant. Kunafa’s origins can be traced to two different caliphates, in the Umayyad Levant under Muawiyah I and in Fatimid Egypt under Khalifa Abdel-Malek Bin Marawan. In both the stories, Kunafa is prescribed by doctors in order to satisfy the hunger during Ramadan. It was supposed to be consumed at Suhur so as to survive the fasting through out the day, there are many stories on Kunafa/ Kanefa.
Kunafa is traditionally made with Kataifi which is a pastry dough & milk cream, baked to a deliciously non-resistant dessert. These days it has been modernised & different variants are available in the Pastry shops. They can be flattened & baked to a big cake filled with cheese cream or can be rolled up with dry fruits, but one thing is common in all the variants, sugar syrup. Rose sugar syrup is poured on the crispy layers of golden baked vermicelli topped with dry fruits is a delight for the eyes.
Today I would be sharing Kunafa recipe with some twists as it’s my version, I have used fine ready made vermicelli for the top & bottom layering. For filling I would be making a thick filling with Cottage cheese, milkmaid, flour and corn flour. For me there is no compromise with health, so I would be adding sugar free instead of sugar in the Mango cream filling. Instead of sugar syrup I would be pouring honey with rosewater. —Monika Patel
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