Monday, September 13, 2010

كنافة or kanafeh or knafeh or kunafeh or...nevermind. Just look at the picture.

This is كنافة or kanafeh (or knafeh or about 500 other spelling variations you can find on google. I'm going to stick with two and call it good). Anyway! It's my favorite Palestinian desert. Word on the street is that it's native to Nablus (a town in the north of the West Bank), but you can find it pretty much anywhere in the Levantine region as well as Egypt. Actually I'm pretty sure you can find variations of it across the Middle East. I know for sure I've had a similar version in Turkey. 

Kanafeh, Nablus, 2009 



It's a pastry filled with soft goat cheese, and though some have said it's definitely an acquired taste...I am always up for a slice of kanafeh with some Arabic coffee on the side. 

Here are some pictures of it being made in Nablus. I apologize for the poor quality. The only thing I can blame it on is that I had either had waaaaaay too much Arabic coffee or I was so excited to eat the entire thing by myself share it with my friends that I couldn't keep the camera steady. It happens. Frequently. (Please note, I do not recommend eating an entire pan of kanafeh by yourself. I think it might send you into cardiac arrest). 





Last year the largest kanafeh ever was made in Nablus (it was an attempt to make the Guinness Book of World Records). I was going to go, but then I didn't because I was too busy updating my Facebook page doing really important things. Actually I did end up going, but by the time we got there the entire thing had been eaten already and I was so disappointed that I still don't like to talk about it. 

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