Recipe - Courtesy of Shayma Alaraj
Recipe – Courtesy of Shayma Alaraj

Every Ramadan, one of the aspects I look forward to, in addition to faith and community, is my mother’s qatayef recipe. I’ve spent nearly every day of Ramadan throughout all these years munching on this delicious dessert after breaking my fast. As we prepare to say goodbye to Ramadan 2022, I’d like to leave you all with this special and unique recipe so you can enjoy it too!

Start to finish: 1 hour

Serving size: 30 pieces

Ingredients:

1 pound of semolina, Ziyad brand preferred

2 teaspoons of yeast

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 tablespoon of flour

2 cups and 3 tablespoons of sugar

5 cups and 6 tablespoons of water

3 cups of vegetable oil

2 ½ cups of almonds

4 tablespoons of ground cinnamon

1 lemon

Crushed pistachio

Combine the semolina, yeast, baking powder, flour and 1 tablespoon of sugar together in a bowl. Using a spoon, mix together.

Add 4 cups of lukewarm water, and mix with a spoon.

Place the mixture into the blender, and mix on the highest speed until it’s runny. The consistency should be thicker than crepe mix but lighter than pancake mix.

Pour the mixture back into the bowl, and let it sit for 30 minutes. 

While the mixture sits, begin preparing the filling. Roughly grind the almonds. Then, place the ground almonds, ground cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl. Use a spoon to mix.

When the 30 minutes is over, place the liquid mix back into the blender. Blend at the highest speed. The mixture should now be thicker. Add 6 tablespoons of water, and blend for a few seconds.

Pour the mixture out of the blender and back into the bowl. 

Heat a nonstick frying pan on High until the pan warms up, lowering it to Medium when it does.  

Then, pour 3 combined tablespoons of the mix onto the pan. The mix should begin to bubble. When it stops bubbling, remove the qatayef from the pan, and place it on a napkin nearby. Repeat this process until you don’t have any mixture left.

Place a teaspoon of the almond filling in the center of the cooked qatayef. Fold the qatayef in half, holding the almond filling inside and making sure that the filling doesn’t reach the edges. Squish the edges together. You should now have a semi-circle qatayef with almond filling inside. Repeat for all of the pieces.

To make the syrup, let 1 cup of water and 2 cups of sugar come to a simmer in a saucepan. Then, squeeze 2-3 drops of lemon, and continue letting it simmer for about 30 minutes or until the liquid becomes sticky to the touch. 

Meanwhile: in a saucepan and on the stove, pour 3 cups of vegetable oil. Wait until it’s hot, and then deep fry the qatayef until it’s golden brown on both sides. 

Remove and place onto a dry napkin/towel so that the excess oil can be absorbed. 

Then, soak the qatayef in the saucepan of syrup until it’s sweetened to your liking. I prefer to let it soak for about 2 minutes because I have a major sweet tooth. 

After soaking, place onto a plate, sprinkle some crushed pistachios and enjoy!