[Sca-cooks] Abbasid Qataif (spiced nut filled pastries)

[Lilinah]

Abbasid Qataif

Original Recipe
(13th C. anonymous Andalusian cookbook)

It is made from the pierced musahhada that has already been 
mentioned. Take peeled almonds, pound them and let them dry until 
they are like semolina. Add as much again of sugar, spikenard, 
cloves, and Chinese cinnamon. Then take a flat bread (raghif) of the 
aforementioned musahhada, free of burns, and sprinkle it with those 
almonds and ground sugar aplenty. Sprinkle it with rosewater in which 
some camphor is dissolved, and fold it until it is a half circle. 
Glue the edges with dough wetted in rosewater, and put it in a 
frying-pan full of fresh oil. Boil it, and then take it out 
immediately and remove it so it drains of the oil. Let it float in a 
syrup of roses or julep or skimmed honey. You might make raghifs on 
raghifs, filled inside, and glue the margins together, and they will 
turn out circles and halves. [note]

[note] Huici Miranda's derivation of qataif from a verb meaning to 
sift flour is wrong. "Qataif" is simply the plural of the noun 
meaning "plush, velvet"; the texture is more fabric-like than bread. 
This basic recipe - crepes (the crepes themselves were called 
"mushahhada" in al-Andalus) folded over around a filling and deep 
fried - is what the word "qataif" still means in Lebanon and Syria. 
The "qataif" can be removed from the cooking oil immediately, because 
the crepe ("flat bread") is already cooked. The last sentence 
suggests instead of folding over one mushahhada you could glue two 
together and make a fully round, rather than a half-round, version, 
so that you can serve both circles and half-circles. (Charles Perry)

---

My Version
Made about 55 - that were how many wonton wrapper were in my package

Filling:
1 cup Blanched Almonds
1 cup Granulated White Sugar
1/4 to 1/3 tsp. Powdered Cloves
1/2 to 3/4 tsp. Powdered Cinnamon
1 tsp. Rosewater (Lebanese)

1 pkg. circular Wonton Wrappers
Mild Vegetable Oil for frying
--- i mixed safflower and sunflower oils

Syrup:
1/4 c. Honey
1/2 c. Water
1 tsp. Lemon juice

Prepare Filling:
Grind almonds with sugar in the food processor to a somewhat rough stage
Then mix in cloves, cinnamon, and rosewater by hand.
I skipped the spikenard, since people seem to find its flavor odd.
I skipped the camphor because it is a potential health hazard.

Assemble:
Fill a small bowl with plain water and set it next to the work space.
On a baking sheet with low sides, lay out several wonton wrappers.
Put a small amount of spiced ground nuts on one half.
With a finger dipped in the bowl of water, moisten half the edge of 
the wonton, then fold it over the filling, pressing the edges firmly 
together to seal.
Repeat until all the filling is used up.

I did this early in the day.

Fry:
Heat about 1 inch of oil in a cast iron skillet or wok.
Fry as many half-moon as will comfortably fit - i did 6 to 8 at a 
time - until golden, transferring on a baking sheet with low sides 
covered with paper towels as soon as they are done.
Let cool.

I did this late in the day

Syrup:
Mix honey, water, and lemon juice in a small saucepan.
Bring just to a boil
Turn off the heat and let the syrup cool.
When cool, put in a container.

Pour syrup over the fried pastries shortly before serving them.

I think these would have been quite good with a little rose petal jam 
diluted with a little water...
Watch out for modern rose syrups as many are colored red, which is 
just horrible! It should be clear and colorless, and is quite easy to 
make oneself.

Anyway, i fried them on Friday night and served them on Saturday 
afternoon, and they were nice and crispy - of course, it has been 
quite dry here. If you live in a humid climate, they need to be 
well-sealed as soon as they are fried to keep the humidity out. 
However, given the instructions to soak in syrup, perhaps they are 
not meant to be crisp. What do i know? My time machine is 
malfunctioning :-)
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita

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