Kadayif () is a sweet spun

Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

pastry popular in the Balkanic and Levantine space, used for various

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...

Preparation

Kadayif is made from fine dough threads with a filling of milled almonds or walnuts and sugar syrup. This filling is seasoned with vanilla sugar and then wrapped in the dough threads. After baking and cooling, it's soaked in lemon sugar syrup.

Etymology and history

Kadayif comes from the plural of the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

word “qatifah” (), the plural for velvet. The same ingredient is though called “ kunafa” () in Arabic, which refers to another dessert similar to kadayıf but stuffed with cheese. The name first appeared in an Ottoman translation of the Arabic cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh translated by Muhammed bin Mahmud Şirvani, a 15th-century Ottoman physician. According to

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

in Diyarbakır, the first kadayif vendor in the city was an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

shop owner named Agop. A version filled with walnuts or pistachios flavored with cinnamon was traditionally served by the

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

community of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

during

Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summe ...

and

Purim Purim (; , ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Genocide, annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther (u ...

Varieties of kadayif and its usage

There are many recipes and desserts using Kadayif with some of them being documented in the first Ottoman printed cookbook,

Melceü't-Tabbâhîn ''Melceü't-Tabbâhîn'' (Ottoman Turkish: ملجأ الطباخين, ''The Sanctuary of Cooks'' or ''The Refuge of Cooks''), the first Ottoman Turkish cookbook, was written in 1844 by Hoca Mehmed Kâmil, a lecturer at the Imperial School of Medic ...

. * ''Tel Kadayif'' * ''Ekmek Kadayif'' * ''Kadayif Pudding'' * ''

Knafeh Knafeh () is a traditional Arab dessert made with '' kadayif'' (spun pastry dough) layered with cheese and soaked in a sweet, sugar-based syrup called attar. Knafeh is a popular throughout the Arab world, especially in the Levant, and is often s ...

'' * ''

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

Dolma Dolma ( Turkish for "stuffed") is a family of stuffed dishes associated with Ottoman cuisine, typically made with a filling of rice, minced meat, offal, seafood, fruit, or any combination of these inside either a leaf wrapping or a hollow or h ...

'' * ''

Dubai chocolate Dubai chocolate () is a chocolate bar containing a filling made with kadayif and pistachio. It was created by Emirati Fix Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai, and was popularized in 2024 by influencers on social media, especially TikTok. Description Du ...

'' * ''Burma Kadayif'' * ''Tash Kadayif'' * '' Sheki halva'' * Othmalliyya

Gallery

File:Künefe 20230904.jpg, Kunefe File:Turkish dessert.jpg, Ekmek Kadayif File:Burma kadayif.jpg, Burma Kadayif File:Kadayif.jpg, Tel Kadayif File:Yassı kadayıf.jpg, Yassi Kadayif File:Kadayıf Dolması.jpg, Erzurum Dolma File:Turkish dessert (modern presentation).jpg, Kadayif Pudding

References

External links