Kadaif

Ingredients

Pastry

• 500 gkadaif pastry threads, thawed if frozen
• 250 gunsalted butter, clarified

Filling

• 350 gwalnuts, coarsely chopped
• 60 gcaster sugar
• 1 tspground cinnamon
• ½ tspground clove

Syrup

• 600 gsugar
• 500 mlwater
• 3 tbsplemon juice
• 1strip lemon peel

Directions

1. Pull the pastry threads apart with your fingers in a wide bowl until they are loose and airy with no compressed clumps; this takes a good 5 minutes and decides the final texture.
2. Pour over the warm clarified butter and toss for 2 minutes, lifting and dropping the threads, until every strand is coated and faintly glossy.
3. Mix the walnuts with the sugar, cinnamon and clove.
4. Press half the buttered threads into a 30 by 25 cm tray in an even layer, scatter the nuts to the edges, and cover with the rest, pressing down firmly so the tray holds together as one slab.
5. Bake at 160°C (325°F) fan for 45 to 50 minutes, until the whole surface is uniformly deep gold. Pale patches stay soggy after the syrup goes on.
6. While it bakes, boil the sugar, water, lemon juice and peel for 10 minutes, then cool the syrup completely.
7. Pour the cold syrup evenly over the pastry the moment it comes out of the oven; it will hiss loudly and drink almost all of it.
8. Leave uncovered at room temperature for at least 4 hours, then cut into squares or rolls and lift them out. The threads should still crunch under the syrup.

Technique

• Cold syrup on hot pastry, every time. Reversing it steams the threads limp within minutes.
• The lemon juice is not just for flavour. Acid inverts part of the sugar and stops the syrup crystallising into grit in the tray overnight.
• Kadaif dries out fast once cut. Keep it whole in the tray under a cloth, not clingfilm, and cut portions as you need them.

Substitutions

• Cannot find kadaif threads: very thin phyllo cut into 2 mm ribbons and separated by hand is a slow but genuine substitute.
• Half walnut, half hazelnut is common in Elbasan and gives a sweeter, rounder filling.

Variations

• Burma kadaif rolls the nuts inside cigars of pastry rolled around a dowel, then bakes them upright.
• Kadaif me krem sets a thick milk custard under the top layer, served cold and cut in squares.

History

Made in Albanian ëmbëltore shops beside baklava, a legacy of five centuries of Ottoman rule.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kadaif?

Kadaif is a dessert from Albania: pastry threads with walnut, baked and soaked in lemon syrup. Made in Albanian ëmbëltore shops beside baklava, a legacy of five centuries of Ottoman rule.

How long does Kadaif take to make?

Kadaif takes 30 min of preparation and 50 min plus 4 hr soaking of cooking. The recipe makes 1 tray, 24 pieces. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Kadaif?

Yes, within limits. Cannot find kadaif threads: very thin phyllo cut into 2 mm ribbons and separated by hand is a slow but genuine substitute. Half walnut, half hazelnut is common in Elbasan and gives a sweeter, rounder filling.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kadaif?

Bake at 160°C (325°F) fan for 45 to 50 minutes, until the whole surface is uniformly deep gold. Pale patches stay soggy after the syrup goes on.