The Ultimate Ramadan Qatayef Recipe

Hey girl hey. And boy.

If you have been reading my recent posts, you would know two things:

a). Ramadan is here

b). Qatayef and I are engaged

And it’s true. It’s like there’s an unwritten rule that Qatayef STAYS in Ramadan and cannot be made during other months. So when Ramadan comes, you bet we’re having this dessert every single night. A few of you were asking about it so I thought I’d make this short post to share the recipe because it’s not a very common dessert made outside of Middle Eastern cuisine so we need to change history and get everyone making these today. They’re a little more complicated than pancakes but it’s worth it in the end. Plus, these can be frozen in large batches and baked whenever you want. So without further ado, let’s get starteddd.

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DOUGH

What You Need:

• 2 cups of flour (AP and whole wheat work)
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 cup warm water (MUST BE 37 DEGREES C or 98.6 F)
• 1 tbsp rosewater

Mix your dry ingredients then add in wet ingredients and wait for the dough to rise.

 

PROCEDURE

You may do this on a pan or griddle.

In a pan, set your gas on the 4 mark so medium heat and on the griddle set the temperature to 350 F.

Next, use a little bit of butter to coat your pan and griddle and to allow for easy removal.

You can use a sauce ladle, ice cream scoop or a pancake squeeze bottle (you can even reuse shampoo bottles or any squeezable bottle at home) to squeeze large pancake circles in your pan or griddle (2 per pan at a time and 6 per griddle).

 

squeeze

6 per griddle

pancake bubbles

The best thing about Qatayef is that you only need to cook it one side so when you see these three signs, remove it from heat and onto a cloth covered tray.

a). you can see reddish brown in the holes of the pancake

b). if you lift it up, it’s an orangish colour

c). all the white liquid is gone and dried from the surface

 

a

b

c

 

STUFFING

For the stuffing, you can literally use anything. Usually, people use Akawi cheese, mixed crushed nuts or porridge. Please note that these will go in the oven so don’t put something too runny like nutella or jam.

Akawie Cheese – grated and washed before use

 

Akawie Cheese

Grate

Wash

Mixed Nuts – crushed in a food processor or by hammer over a ziplock bag and is usually mixed with coconut and cinnamon (any nut works and some people even use raisins!)

 

walnuts + almonds

coconut + cinnamon

mixed together

 

PROCEDURE

Start by placing around a tablespoon into the center of each pancake (“uncooked” side up).

Carefully, start to pinch the edges on both sides to make a boat and then pinch your way into the middle. If you feel you put too much stuffing, reduce and try again. You can also pinch on one side and make your way to the other like a rainbow and that’s what I usually do.

 

Once all stuffing finishes or pancakes, store them in the freezer or bake them right away.

 

BAKING

Start by adding 1/2 tsp of butter on the top of each pancake you want to bake. This dessert needs both bake and broil so for the first 5 minutes or so, bake in the oven until the bottom has browned or crisped a bit. Once that happens, relocate the tray to the upper most layer to broil it and do this until the top is crispy and brown.

 

Now you can just top these off with some honey or syrup but Arabs put sugar syrup on literally everything so this tastes best if it’s dipped in a pot of sugar syrup (my diet is quaking). You can make sugar syrup by boiling 3 cups of sugar for every 2 cups of water until syrup is thickened.

And the MOST important step….

… send it to Bay’s Qatayef anniversary party at 123 mydietperished Street.

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Anddd that’s all for today.

Have you ever tried Qatayef? Heard of it?

Do you have other pancake variations?

What’s your favourite dessert? (for Ramadan or just for every day)

I’ll see you in my next post.

Bayyy. 💞