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Here is the best healthy recipe for kunafa. A quick and easy recipe done with simple ingredients that you can easily find in your fridge!
If you have visited any of the middle eastern countries, then you must have heard about the supreme Middle Eastern Kunafa or Knafeh. With its variety of spellings from kunafa to knafeh, kanafeh, kunafeh, or even konafi, etc, this middle eastern knafeh is the top-notch of all Arabic sweets and for that is, a must-try.
Where is kunafa originally from? Kunafa is a famous pastry dessert in the levant that combines in its traditional form, kataifi pastry, the shredded phyllo dough, or fine semolina dough. It is stuffed with a cheese filling and soaked in sweet sugar syrup. The syrup is usually scented with rose water or in a few areas with orange blossom water to upscale the taste.
If you think that making Middle Eastern kunafa at home is a hassle you need to think twice. If you want to learn how to make kunafa at home in an easy manner or even how to make kunafa without knafeh dough, then reading this article till the end is a must. The reason is that I saved you a healthier version of this delicious Arabic dessert. Yes, you will never need to count your calories when you opt for this delicious homemade light cheese knafeh. A quick and easy recipe done with simple ingredients that you can easily find in your fridge!
– Cheese kunafa na’ameh or knafeh bil jibn is made with semolina dough and filled with cheese, mainly Nabulsi cheese or Akkawi cheese.
– Cheese kunafa or knafeh bil jibn made with kataifi dough and filled as well with Nabulsi or Akawi cheese
– Kunafa Nabulsiyah is similar to the kataifi dough cheese kunafa, yet it comes in an orange shade of color.
– Kunafa with ashta, a thick cream cooked with milk, sugar, and semolina.
In the Middle East, kunafa is made with specific kunafa cheeses, mainly Nabulsi or Akkawi cheese. However, these two types of cheese of known for being salty. Hence, if you want to use one of them, then make sure to desalt them. The process of desalting cheese involves keeping the cheese in the water for a couple of hours then changing the water and repeating the process until the cheese is not salty.
However, if you cannot find either of them in the market, then you can use mozzarella instead. Pat to dry the fresh mozzarella and get rid of excess liquid then add it to the pastry tray. To prevent the cheese from hardening after it cools, you can either add ricotta cheese as a fast option or add my quick homemade cream as detailed below.
First, prepare the sugar syrup and put it aside to cool.
In a food processor, process the sliced bread along with the butter or ghee. Once done, bring the mixture to a pan and press them with the palm of your hand, then add your mozzarella.
Next, prepare the creamy milk. In a cooking pot, combine milk and sugar in a pan and stir well to make sure that the sugar is dissolved. Then add semolina and continue stirring. Once the milk starts to thicken, add rose water and stop stirring.
Add a layer of the creamy milk above the mozzarella and enter the tray into the oven.
Serve it hot with sugar syrup.
Bon Appetit.
Sure. Prepare the sugar syrup and kunafa tray in advance and bake the tray 30 minutes before serving. You can store the unbaked knafeh in the fridge and remove it 30 minutes before baking.
Like many other Arabic sweets, you can store knafeh in the fridge in an air-tight container and keep it for 3 to 4 days.
Yes, you can freeze it unbaked. Wrap it with cling film and put it in the freezer. Just make sure to thaw it in the fridge for a day before baking.
I like to reheat kunafa in the oven at a low temperature. However, you can always use your microwave to reheat a slice for 15 to 20 seconds or depending on the power of your microwave.
Do you like Arabic sweets? Check out these recipes:
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Here is the best healthy recipe for kunafa. A quick and easy recipe done with simple ingredients that you can easily find in your fridge!
Sugar syrup:
For garnish:
A handful of crushed pistachios
Prepare the sugar syrup:
Prepare the kunafa:
Calories: 433 kcal per serving | Serving size: 1 slice | Number of servings: 12
Total Fat 18 g | Saturated Fat 6 g | Cholesterol 18 mg | Sodium 276 mg | Potassium 81 mg | Total Carbohydrate 47 g | Dietary Fiber 3 g | Sugars 23 g | Protein 16 g | Vitamin A: 10% | Vitamin C: 0% | Calcium: 22% | Iron: 3%
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet