For the folded pancake, see Qatayef. In Arabic, the name may refer to the string pastry itself, or konafa the entire dessert dish. In Turkish, the string pastry is known as tel kadayıf, and the cheese-based dessert that uses it as künefe.
One of the most well-known preparations of the dessert is “Knafeh Nabulsiyeh”, which originated in the city of Nablus, and is the most representative and iconic Palestinian dessert. The English language borrows the word from Levantine and Egyptian Arabic, and widely transliterates it as kanafeh, kenafeh, knafeh, kunafah, kunafeh, konafa, kunafa, and similar variations. The ultimate origin of kanafeh is debated. Some sources state that it comes from the Coptic Egyptian word kenephiten, meaning a bread or cake. It appears in 1501 in a Turkish-Persian dictionary. A common story is that the dish was created, and prescribed by doctors, to satisfy the hunger of caliphs during Ramadan.
The story is variously said to have happened in Fatimid Egypt, or in the Umayyad Caliphate in Syria. Arabic and Persian recipes and food advice of the Abbasid caliphs, mentions neither the word kunāfa, nor a description of the dish as it is known today. Ibn al-Jazari gives an account of a 13th-century market inspector who rode through Damascus at night, ensuring the quality of kunāfa, qatā’if, and other foods associated with Ramadan, during the Mamluk period. In the later Middle Ages, a new technique was created, with thin batter being dripped onto the metal sheet from a perforated container, creating hair-like strings. The pastry is heated in butter, margarine, palm oil, or traditionally semneh and then spread with soft white cheese, such as Nabulsi cheese, and topped with more pastry.
In khishnah kanafeh the cheese is rolled in the pastry. Kanafeh Nabulsieh originated in the Palestinian city of Nablus, hence the name Nabulsieh. In the Hatay region of Turkey, which was formerly part of Syria and has a large Arab population, the pastry is called künefe and the wiry shreds are called tel kadayıf. This Azerbaijani variant is prepared in Tabriz, Iran.
Riştə Xətayi”, and is typically cooked in Ramadan in the world’s biggest covered Bazaar of Tabriz. Greek, the threads are used to make various forms of pastries, such as tubes or birds’ nests, often with a filling of chopped nuts as in baklava. It is originated in Gaza strip, Palestine, made of soft bulgur, cinnamon, pecan nuts, dairy fats. The world’s largest plate of the dessert was made in Antakya, Turkey, in 2017. The tray of künefe measured 78 meters long, and weighed 1550 kilograms. A previous record attempt was made by rival Nablus in 2009, with a 75-meter tray, weighing 1,350 kilograms. Food, Cuisine, and Cultural Competency for Culinary, Hospitality, and Nutrition Professionals.