Kunafe/ Kunafa

Hello there!

As usual, my life is crazy busy juggling work and my studies at the same time. I have no idea how I managed it for the whole year last year, so I’m pushing myself a lot harder for this year as well. I have very few resolutions for this year. First  is to cook more and second is to try cooking other cuisines as well. So here is one of my experiments for this year.

I remember falling in love with Kunafe/Kunafa during Frosh around 8 years ago (oh my god, it was that long ago!). I remember being so intrigued with this sweet yet salty dessert. Shreddded pastry that encases melted cheese and sweetend with orange blossom syrup. Oh wow, oh wow. Since then I have been dreaming to try my hands at it, but never did. I mean, come on, Al- Baghdadi, a Middle-Eastern Bakery was so close to our university. I could just get the Metro and get my cravings fixed. My bestfriend’s mom was also kind enough to share her recipe with us. There we were three girls following her around her kitchen and observing how this dessert was made. She was an amazing cook! I still miss her food to this day. J

Since I moved back to Malaysia, I have not had Kunafe/Kunafa since. Until mom told me that the restaurant near our house had it. I was so excited, but was a tad bit disappointed. I learned that there are different kinds of kunafe/kunafa, and the version that they serve at the restaurant was the creamy (no cheese) one. I was determined to make one myself, the way I like it! I was googling for good recipe to follow and as usual, traditional recipe as such has different variation. I was quite upset to see recipes that require a “kunafe pan”, “ a big pan”, “ a wide pan”. I mean hello? How big is big? How wide? Are the measurements using the metric system? Anyways, I stumbled upon this recipe here: Kunafa Nabulsi . The recipe is straight forward and so easy to follow. Since I did not have a 10 inch pan, I used an 8 inch instead. I have tweaked the recipe a bit, to my liking.

  

Kunafe/Kunafa

1 tablespoon butter, melted (for oiling the pan)

1/4 teaspoon orange liquid food coloring

1/2 cup melted butter

400 grams of shredded filo dough (kataifi), thawed

1 cup (250g) of ricotta cheese

1 ½   cups  of mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 tablespoon of orange blossom water

Pistachios for garnishing (Optional)

For the syrup

1  cup of sugar

3/4 cup water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water

1.     Preheat oven to 180 Celsius.

2.     Butter your 8 inch cake pan. Add a few drops of colouring  and spread evenly on the bottom  and sides of the pan. Add some more colouring if needed. Set aside.

3.     In a big bowl, combine the cheeses, sugar and orange blossom water together. Set aside.

4.     In a different bowl, mix together the shredded pastry and melted butter.

5.     Place  and press half of the shredded pastry into the cake pan.

6.     Add the cheese mixture on the flattened shredded pastry.

7.     Cover the cheese mixture with the remaining shredded pastry.

8.     Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until slightly brown. Let rest for a couple of minutes before inverting it.

Sugar Syrup

1. On a medium heat, combine the water, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan.
2. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves.
3. Turn off heat and add the orange blossom water.
4. Let cool slightly. Drizzle on kunafe/kunafa.

Note.

The Syrup can be a tad bit sweet so you can put a minimal amount of syrup on top just to coat the pastry and serve the extra syrup on the side.

As you can see, I DID NOT spread the colouring evenly! :p Oh well, first try! Nonetheless, it was a glorious glorious dessert.  My mom still preferred that creamy Kunafe/Kunafa served at the Middle-Eastern restaurant over mine. *eye roll* To each their own, I guess. K mom, k.

Till next time,

Soffy 

S'mores Cheesecake

Hi!

As I have stated in the earlier post, I have been experimenting a lot with cheesecakes. When is the best time to experiment? During celebrations of course! My girl Amal just joined the 26 y/o club a couple of weeks back.  As an adult, I really have trouble thinking of things to get my friends. Mind you most of them make more money than I do and can afford more things than me (I am still a poor student remember? :p) I always have and still believe that the best gifts are either 1)experiential or 2) homemade. So I chose the latter of course because with our busy schedules there are no way we could have gone anywhere adventurous.

Three years back, I made Amal an Oreo Cheesecake and this year I though long and hard about what flavours she may like. Chocolates! Making chocolate cakes/chocolate cheesecakes are too mainstream! So I decided to make S’mores Cheesecake instead because why not? There were only 5 of us I made a smaller version of the cake. I simply use 1/3 of the recipe and bake the cake in a 6" pan.

S'mores Cheesecake

3 sticks of cream cheese (750g), room temperature

3 eggs

2 tablespoon of all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

¼ cup milk

a dash of vanilla essence

1 ¼  cup of finely crushed graham crackers

¼   to ½ cup of melted butter

½ of 165g Cadbury Chocolate Bar cut into chunks

Topping

½ of 165g Cadbury Chocolate Bar (melted)

Marshmallows

Digestive biscuit chunks

1. Preheat oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit (300 degrees if using a dark non-stick spring form) the insides of a 9-inch spring form with parchment paper. Set aside
2. In a bowl, mix the crushed graham crackers and melted butter together. Press firmly on the bottom and the sides of spring form.
3. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside.
4. In the meantime, mix the cream and sugar together using an electric mixer until well blended.
5. Add in the flour and continue beating.
6. Add in milk and vanilla essence and eggs and beat until combined.
7. Using a spoon, mix in the chunks of chocolate bar into the batter.
8. Pour the cream cheese batter onto the baked crust.
9. Bake for 35 -45 minutes. The middle should still jiggle while the sides are slightly firm to touch.
10. Let cool in the oven.
11. Once cooled, let it set in the fridge for 3 hours minimum.

To decorate;

1. Melt the remaining chocolate bar using the microwave of the double boiler method.
2. Cover the top of the cheesecake with the melted chocolate.
3. Burn the marshmallow using a blow torch or broil them under the broiler for a couple of seconds until it reaches your preferred burnt level.
4. Arrange the burnt marshmallows and biscuit chunks on the cheesecake.

Birthday girl loves her cheesecake and I love her! Happy Birthday Amal!<3

Bon appetite!

Love,

Soffy