Kunafa

Kunafa, i have not much words to describe this dessert. So addictively delicious is all i can say. Its a baked Arabic dessert with shredded Kunafa dough and cheese as filling, served warm with rose scented sugar syrup . Whenever I crave for one, I always beg my husband to get one from any of the local Arabic bakeries/restaurants, but it is only a limited portion i can enjoy as the price is too high for a small quantity. And with kids around, my cravings are never put to end. All i can do is sit back and drool over this heaven when my kids gobble it down.

My 6 year old pouring that sugar syrup and mehndi on her hands were done by me for Eid

This time i decided to give it a try, after drooling over a plethora of images and recipes on internet. Also after having one from one of the Arabic restaurants, and the deliciousness it had (OMG!! It was such a heaven, served straight from the oven, my husband and i couldn't wait it to cool down, we had the entire thing all by ourselves), i could not hold back my temptation any more from baking one right after 2-3 days. And i waited only so much days only because it was holiday in between and we were not at home.

This one over here is made of vermicelli crust rather than Kunafa dough, easily available in supermarkets, which is actually what it is supposed to be made of, as I said I did not have any patience to wait and hop over to supermarket to buy Kunafa dough. I made another one with Kunafa dough and it turned out to be equally good. But second time i tried with creamy filling rather than only cheese. Both the times it was equally delicious, though using Kunafa dough gave the right texture.
Also i did not add any food coloring to tint the crust as mentioned in most of the recipes. I love the golden shade of the crust and that is surely the most appealing one.

So here i will be sharing both the versions, where  used Kunafa dough and Pakistani vermicelli for the crust and also the creamy filling and cheese filling as filling.
So sorry for the poor picture quality, as i said i was too greedy to focus and capture patiently a good snap. I actually waited to post this recipe until I tried this recipe for the second time and shoot a decent picture. But, SIGH!! my greed only got worse and the picture was equally bad.

Over to the recipe:
Version 1: with Vermicelli crust

Ingredients

• Pakistani vermicelli- 1 pack
• Butter (melted)- 150 gms +a tablespoon for greasing

For filling:

• Mozarella cheese- 200 gms

Sugar syrup:

• Sugar- 1 cup
• Water- 1/2 cup
• Rose essence- 4 drops
• Orange blossom water- 4 drops

For garnishing:

• Pistachios- chopped or powdered

Method:

For the crust

• Take a large bowl and put all the vermicelli and crush it with your hands to finer pieces. Mix in the melted butter.

Assembling:

• Now grease a 9 inch round cake pan with butter. Add half of the vermicelli and press gently so that all of them stick together.
• Now spread mozarella cheese on top of it.
• Next spread the remaining vermicelli.
• Bake in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes at 180 C.

Sugar syrup:

• Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients for sugar syrup in a sauce pan and bring it to boil, simmer for few minutes. Take off the flame and keep aside to cool.
• Take pan out of oven and let it cool for 10 minutes.

Serve:

• Using an offset spatula, run through the sides of the pan to loosen the Kunafa and flip.
• Pour the cooled sugar syrup over the hot Kunafa just enough to soak the dessert  evenly. Garnish with pistachios. Enjoy hot Kunafa.

Version 2 with Kunafa dough:

Kunafa made using Kunafa dough

Ingredients:

• Kunafa dough- 250 gms
• Butter- melted- 200 gms+ 1 tbsp for greasing

For filling:

• Milk- 2 cups
• Cornstarch- 4 tbsp
• Whipping cream/ nestle cream- 1/3 cup
• Sugar- 1/4 cup
• Rose essence- few drops
• Mozarella cheese- a handful

Sugar syrup:

• Sugar- 1 cup
• Water- 1/2 cup
• Rose essence- 4 drops
• Orange blossom water- 4 drops

For garnishing:

• Pistachios- chopped or powdered

Method:

For the filling:

• Mix milk, cream and cornflour till no lumps in a sauce pan and bring to boil. Simmer for a while and keep stirring.
• Add in rose essence. And stir till the milk is thick. Off the flame. Keep aside to cool. Cover with a cling wrap while cooling to prevent formation of crust or keep whisking at regular intervals. It takes about an hour to cool completely. Once cool the filling gets more thick.

For the crust:

• Follow the instructions as mentioned on the pack before using Kunafa dough.
• Take a large bowl and put Kunafa dough and shred it. Mix in the melted butter.

Assembling:

• Now grease a 9 inch round cake pan with butter. Add half of the dough and press gently so that all of them stick together.
• Now spread cream filling on top of it. 
• Sprinkle Mozarella cheese on top.
• Next spread the remaining Kunafa dough.
• Bake in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes at 180 C.

Sugar syrup:

• Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients for sugar syrup in a sauce pan and bring it to boil, simmer for few minutes. Take off the flame and keep aside to cool.
• Take pan out of oven and let it cool for 10 minutes.

Serve:

• Using an offset spatula, run through the sides of the pan to loosen the Kunafa and flip.
• Pour the cooled sugar syrup over the hot Kunafa just enough to soak the dessert  evenly. Garnish with pistachios. Serve hot and enjoy yummy Kunafa!!