Qatayef

Cooked on one side only, so the uncooked upper face is tacky enough to seal itself without egg or water.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (clotted cream).

Ingredients

the batter

• 300 g plain flour
• 50 g fine semolina
• 500 ml warm water
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt

the fillings

• 200 g walnuts, chopped
• 3 tablespoons caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 300 g clotted cream

the syrup

• 500 g caster sugar, for the syrup -- the pastries are lifted out of it and the surplus is not eaten
• 400 ml water
• juice of ½ lemon
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water

to fry

• 1 litre sunflower oil

Method

1. THEY ARE COOKED ON ONE SIDE ONLY, so the uncooked upper face is tacky enough to seal itself. The batter is poured onto a hot dry pan and left until the top has gone from wet to matt and is covered in open bubbles -- and then lifted off WITHOUT TURNING. That raw upper surface is slightly sticky, and when the pancake is folded over its filling the two halves of it press together and weld shut with no egg wash, no water and no pinching needed. Turned and cooked on both sides, the pancake is sealed on both faces, nothing sticks to anything, and every single one opens in the fryer.
2. THE BUBBLES ON TOP ARE THE SIGNAL AND THEY MUST BE OPEN. Not a smooth surface with a few holes -- a dense lace of burst bubbles across the whole face. That texture is what holds the filling and takes up the syrup. A batter that is too thick, or a pan too cool, gives a smooth pancake that is closer to a crumpet lid.
3. THE BATTER IS THIN AND IS RESTED UNTIL IT IS VISIBLY ALIVE. Five hundred millilitres of water to three hundred and fifty grams of flour and semolina -- it should pour like single cream. Rested an hour until the surface is domed with bubbles. Underproved batter does not bubble in the pan.
4. THE PAN IS DRY AND MEDIUM-HOT. No fat at all. Oil in the pan fries the underside and seals the top surface too, which defeats the whole arrangement.
5. THE CREAM-FILLED ONES ARE LEFT OPEN AND THE NUT ONES ARE SEALED AND FRIED. Two different finishes from one batch: walnut ones folded, pressed shut and deep-fried; clotted cream ones folded only half way, left open at the top, and NOT fried at all -- dipped in syrup and finished with pistachio. Frying a cream one melts it out.
6. HOT PASTRY INTO COOL SYRUP, SECONDS ONLY. The fried ones straight from the oil into cold syrup, in and out, then onto a rack with the surplus poured off. Left to soak they go heavy.
7. The flour, semolina, yeast, sugar, baking powder and salt whisked with the warm water to a THIN batter that pours like single cream.
8. Rested 1 HOUR, until the surface is domed with bubbles.
9. The syrup ingredients boiled 10 MINUTES, the blossom water stirred in off the heat, and LEFT TO COOL.
10. A pan heated to medium, COMPLETELY DRY.
11. Small ladles of batter poured on and cooked until the top is MATT and covered in a DENSE LACE OF OPEN BUBBLES, about 90 SECONDS.
12. LIFTED OFF WITHOUT TURNING, onto a cloth, uncooked side UP. Not stacked while warm.
13. The walnuts mixed with the 3 tablespoons of sugar and cinnamon.
14. HALF filled with the walnut mixture, folded, and the edges PRESSED TOGETHER -- they seal themselves.
15. Those DEEP-FRIED at 170°C 2 to 3 MINUTES until golden, then dipped in the COOL syrup for SECONDS and drained, the surplus poured off.
16. The OTHER HALF filled with clotted cream, folded only halfway so the top stays OPEN, NOT fried, and the syrup spooned over.
17. TESTED: the folded edges should hold without pinching. Any that open were cooked on both sides.
18. Scattered with pistachios and eaten the same day.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Lebanon · All recipes