Kataifi — shredded-pastry rolls with walnuts and syrup

i. Origin & history

The pastry comes first. Kataifi dough is made from a thin batter of flour, water and a little starch, poured through fine nozzles onto a rotating hot metal plate. Each stream cooks almost instantly into a long, thin thread, and the threads are swept off in soft skeins. The method is old — shredded batter pastry is part of the Arab and Ottoman pastry tradition that developed under the Mamluks and Ottomans — and in the Middle East it was traditionally made in specialist shops, as it still is in many cities. Elsewhere it is bought frozen or chilled in long rolls.

The names travelled with it and shifted along the way. The Greek kataifi (also spelt kadaifi) comes from the Turkish kadayıf, which in turn comes from the Arabic qaṭāyif. Confusingly, in today's Arab world qatayef means something else entirely — small folded pancakes stuffed with nuts or cream and eaten during Ramadan. In Arabic, the shredded pastry is called knafeh or kunafa, and the hair-fine version shaʿriyya or knafeh shaʿr, 'hair knafeh'.

So the same threads make several famous desserts. In Greece and Cyprus, kataifi most often means individual rolls of pastry wrapped round walnuts and spices, soaked in syrup — the version on this page, found in every zacharoplasteio (pastry shop) and at Christmas and name-day tables. In Turkey, tel kadayıf is usually baked in a tray with walnut or pistachio filling, and Antep pistachio versions are especially prized. In the Levant, the pastry is layered over soft white cheese and baked into kunafa, a dessert so distinct it has its own page.

Greek emigrants took kataifi to the United States, Australia and beyond, where it sits beside baklava on every Greek festival table. The two belong together: baklava uses flat sheets of filo, kataifi uses shredded threads, and both are built on nuts, butter and syrup.

ii. Butter on every strand, cold syrup on hot pastry

Kataifi threads are very thin and almost dry, so how they crisp depends on fat. Each strand must be coated in butter. Uncoated threads bake into pale, papery wisps that turn soggy under syrup; coated ones fry in the oven into crisp, golden, slightly chewy threads that hold their crunch after soaking. That is why the pastry is teased apart and tossed with melted butter before rolling, and why more butter is drizzled over the rolls before baking.

Clarified butter is traditional and makes a real difference. Ordinary butter is about 15 per cent water and contains milk solids; the water steams the pastry rather than frying it, and the solids brown and scorch over a long bake. Clarified butter (Greek and Turkish cooks use it for all syrup pastries) fries the threads evenly to a deep, even gold.

The syrup follows the rule shared by baklava and revani: cold syrup on hot pastry. The hot, crisp threads absorb cool syrup quickly and evenly, and the steam that rises as it hits sets the outside crisp. Hot syrup on hot pastry turns it limp; cold on cold sits on top and never soaks in. The syrup should be fairly thick — simmered long enough to coat a spoon — so it clings rather than pooling at the bottom of the tray.

Finally, rolling matters. The pastry should be wrapped snugly round the filling but not squashed: a light, open roll lets heat and syrup reach the centre, and a tight, compressed one bakes dense and stays dry inside.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 20 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 450 g kataifi pastry, thawed
• 220 g clarified butter or ghee, melted
• 250 g walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 50 g blanched almonds, coarsely chopped
• 50 g caster sugar (filling)
• 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• 500 g sugar (syrup)
• 350 ml water (syrup)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 strip lemon peel, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice

Kataifi pastry is sold frozen in Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern shops, sometimes as kadaif or kunafa dough; thaw it in the fridge overnight, still wrapped, so it does not dry out. Clarified butter or ghee gives the crispest result; if you only have ordinary butter, melt it and pour off the clear fat, leaving the milky solids behind. Walnuts are the Greek standard; pistachios give the Turkish style. The egg white binds the filling so it holds as you roll; leave it out and add a spoon of the syrup instead if you prefer. A little honey and lemon in the syrup stop it crystallising.

iv. Method

1. Make the syrup: bring the sugar, water, cinnamon stick and lemon peel to the boil, stirring until dissolved, then simmer for 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Stir in the honey and lemon juice and leave to cool completely.
2. Heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan, 340°F). Brush a 23 × 33 cm baking tin with clarified butter. Mix the walnuts, almonds, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and egg white.
3. Unroll the kataifi on a large tray and tease the strands apart gently with your fingers until loose and fluffy. Keep the pastry you are not using under a damp tea towel.
4. Take a strip of pastry about 6 cm wide and 20 cm long and lay it flat on the work surface. Brush or drizzle lightly with butter. Put a heaped tablespoon of filling at one end and roll up firmly but without squeezing, tucking in loose ends, to make a cylinder about 8 cm long.
5. Set the rolls snugly side by side in the tin. Drizzle the remaining butter evenly over them so all the strands are glossy.
6. Bake for 45–50 minutes until deep golden and crisp all over; lift one roll to check that the base is golden too.
7. As soon as the tin comes out, ladle the cold syrup slowly over the hot rolls. Cover loosely with a tea towel and leave for at least 3 hours, turning the rolls once, until the syrup is absorbed.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Thaw slowly and keep it covered. Kataifi dries out and turns brittle within minutes in the air. Work under a damp cloth and only uncover what you are rolling.
• Separate the strands before buttering. Clumps of compressed pastry stay pale and doughy. Fluffing it up is what lets butter reach every thread.
• Use clarified butter. The milk solids in ordinary butter burn over a 50-minute bake and the water softens the pastry.
• Bake it really golden. Pale kataifi turns limp under syrup. Look for a deep, even gold, including underneath.
• Syrup cold, pastry hot. This contrast is what keeps the threads crisp while the centre turns syrupy.
• Do not cover airtight while warm. Trapped steam softens the pastry; a tea towel lets it breathe as it absorbs the syrup.

vi. Variations

Tray kataifi layers half the buttered pastry in a tin, spreads the nuts over and covers with the rest, cut into squares after baking. Turkish tel kadayıf is often filled with ground Antep pistachios. Ekmek kataifi, a Greek pastry-shop favourite, tops a syrup-soaked kataifi base with custard and whipped cream. Kataifi nests are shaped round a finger into small nests, filled with nuts or cream after baking. Savoury cooks use kataifi to wrap prawns or feta.

For the cheese-filled Levantine dessert made from the same pastry, see kunafa; for syrup-soaked pastries in the same family, try galaktoboureko or the Greek honey biscuits melomakarona.

vii. Serving & storage

Serve kataifi at room temperature, one or two rolls per person, cut in half to show the filling if you like, with Greek coffee or tea. A spoon of thick yoghurt or a scoop of vanilla ice cream offsets the sweetness. It is a staple at Christmas, Easter and name-day gatherings in Greece and Cyprus.

Store it uncovered or loosely covered at room temperature for up to a week; refrigerating it makes the syrup crystallise and the pastry hard. Kataifi rolls can be frozen before baking, wrapped well, for up to two months — bake from frozen, adding 10 minutes — or after syruping, though they lose a little crispness.

ix. More from Middle Eastern

• Kunafa — cheese-filled shredded pastry
• Galaktoboureko — custard in filo
• Melomakarona — Greek honey biscuits
• Revani — semolina sponge in syrup
• Kourabiedes — Greek almond shortbread
• Nazook — Armenian sweet pastry