Ramadan Kareem

My favourite memories of Ramadan in Lebanon are the sweets. And to celebrate the occasion, I attempted making my favourite Ramadan dessert - Katayef.


Katayef are basically those thicker-than-typical crepes that look bubbly on one side and smooth and brown on the other. They feel like raw dough, but they are actually cooked and edible as is. Please don't ask me for the recipe, I have no clue how to make them - I brought those with me from Toronto last week. If you happen to find them around, here is what you can do with them.


You can stuff them with Kashta - heavy cream product that you can find in middle eastern and Iranian stores (and that tastes very much like Devon cream but with creamier texture). Put one Tbsp of cream in the middle of the dough. Sprinkle with a touch of rose water and a dusting of crushed pistachio and roll the dough over it from both ends. This dough is designed to stick to itself, so, with your fingers, push the sides of the dough together and you have this nice looking Katayef bi Ashta (cream). Drizzle with Quater (Lebanese sugar syrup) and go into a sweet high.


Another version is Katayef bi Jowz (walnuts). Simply crush walnuts very fine, mix them with lots of sugar and orange blossom water and use this as stuffing. Of course, you need to drizzle the Quater on them.

Given we were celebrating both an upcoming wedding (see Almost a Wedding Night) and Ramadan, I made both the Katayef bi Ashta & the Katayef bi Jowz. Despite a full meal before, none were left (which is the way I like it).

Ramadan Kareem!