hi everyone today is the day to make that great kunefe at home and
you'll be so surprised how easy it is and how delicious it's going to be.
When you look at kunefe, it is this amazing dish which looks so posh compared to how it looks
the number of ingredients you're going to need and the effort that you're going to put in it
is so little that you'll be surprised. The hardest ingredient to find is probably Kadayıf. I've asked
you guys and you all told me it's easy to find in u.s in many of the markets they sell it
you've sent me some links thank you guys i love you and you make my days and nights and weeks
thank you for all the help. In uk as well in arab markets in turkish markets and in india
as well, so this is the kadayıf. Actually this is not a really good one but i have chosen this
purposefully it's rather in a way a little dry when you open it for a long time please put a
damn clothe not a dry one but wet clothes. So that it won't get dry. But i'll show you a technique to
make it come back to life perfectly. So künefe is now ready to be cooked and enjoyed worldwide.
Now we're going to make this crunchy Börek, the kadayıf and then we're going to wet it
with something sugary and that will give its sugariness because kadaif by itself is a
dough it's not sweet it's not salty. To make this 'Şerbet' the classical one is one tablespoon of
sugar to one tablespoon of water. For the whole serving which is going to be around
for six people is going to be six tablespoons of sugar. If you say Refika we don't like using
sugar anymore none of us do. I just wanted to make the classical and the crunchy one but if you're
totally against using processed sugar you can make the same thing with 4 tablespoons of water and 7
tablespoons of honey. So i'm going to add to this 6 tablespoons of sugar to 6 tablespoons of water.
I'm going to mix this and turn on the heat what we have to do is melt the sugar on low heat before
the water starts to boil. If you do this in high heat before the sugar melts, the water will start
to boil and when that happens you make the dessert it could be a baklava, it could be a künefe when it
gets cold the sugar turns into granules again and that we don't like. We want it to stay as şerbet.
That's the key success point in this and i don't know if he knew but the sorbet the italians do got
its inspiration from şerbet. In the autumn time there were lots of different kinds of sherbets
made from herbs, spices or mixture of fruits and spices these were wonderful and then that sherbet
turned into sorbet and became this great thing. First when sugar is melting it becomes this
opaque thing and then it starts to be more clear as you can see it's not still very clear when
this melts it starts to be a little thick that's what we want. When it starts to boil make it boil
for about a minute and then we put few drops of lemon. Purposely I'm using this old lemon because
i had it in the refrigerator normally i wouldn't have used it but i want to encourage you guys to
use everything to the maximum. I want to show you the real life don't take it as an insult on you
normally these few drops make it shinier, helps it not to crystallize when the sherbet gets cold. When
you put sherbet on something for the crunchiness to stay one has to be cold the other one has to
be hot like if the künefe is hot we have to put the cold sherbets or vice versa. I'm going
to take this outside to the cold so that it gets cold as soon as possible when i make my künefe.
Now the second step is to wet the künefe with some kind of fat the traditional way is to wet
it with butter. If you have butter at home you can use it that way. We will need three tablespoons of
butter to wet this 150 grams of kadayıf. But i'm going to do something else because this kadaif
is not so fresh and the ones you're going to get are not going to so fresh because
in normally Antakya, they just like put the dough on this copper plate which is
going round and round and just they take it out and the künefe guys pick it and then
prepare it immediately and then cook it and you eat it that way.
We cannot race with that but this is the Refika technique, this i have used actually in London.
There was this Yosma Restaurant in Baker Street and they were not getting this künefe
taste greatly. So I have said, guys instead of butter let's put double clotted cream and this is
also a turkish thing made in Afyon. In BBC I was part of the documentary there this has milk in
it and the milkiness will waken up and freshen the künefe. So i'm going to cut this in pieces.
I know that you can find double clotted cream in UK but if you cannot find you can use some kind
of cream and butter together. If you have it at home, this milkiness will help it i'm just melting
it this much. And because if it's too hot it's going to make it mushy and what i'm going to do
i pull apart kadayıf like this. Bahar: Ah actually you have a lot of recipes with kadayıf like
salty, sour, sweet. I have to tell you i want to be known in Turkey as 'Aunty Kadayıf' someday when i get
old. Because this beauty was just being used for künefe, it was not in their minds that they can
make it at home it wasn't very easy i gave that idea the rest of turkey not locals even when i
went to Germany i made schnitzel out of it, in the Frankfurt Book Fair. The schnitzel is so well. Or if
you wrap this kadayıf around the banana and fry it and just a bit of nutmeg and honey it becomes one
of the best desserts ever. Bahar: You make börek out of it. Tava Börek which is one of the Bahar's favorites you know..
So what i did? It was this long thing, i tore it into small pieces like this and now i'm adding
all the clotted cream and not to lose anything what i'm doing is cleaning inside the pan with
this maybe you remember the word 'Bereket', this increases the fruitfulness of the home,
sustainability of your life. Because now we get to use all the offerings of this clotted cream and
not waste it. With my hands i rub this cream to all the strings but i'm not doing this like you
know pushing it inside and then it will become a mushy thing. It won't be a crunchy thing so i
am being very careful in terms of giving it an air you shouldn't make it lose its individuality.
Each string is done. So now i'm ready to cook for the cheese i have dil peyniri, which is like the
string cheese but anything that you have which is not so salty would do cream cheese wouldn't
be so great. Make this into these strings so that it will elongate better. Now my cheese are ready.
A copper pan is great but if you don't have it, it could be any kind of pan that you like. It would be
better if you have just like a long handle i just wanted to make it in copper and i'm making it in a
harder version but to make it looks cooler for you guys. So first heat the pan a little and make sure
that with this teaspoon of butter to butter all the bottom of the pan, now i'm turning the heat
to the lowest and now i'll add the half of the kadayıf inside. After I cover the bottom, now i have
to press it so that when the cheese melt, doesn't go from a hole. If there's a weak point i'll add a
bit of kadayıf and make sure that everything is closed. Then with a wooden spatula i am
pushing the edges so that it will look better now i add my cheese it's about 80 grams. Leaving
just a centimeter from the edge because when the cheese melts and as you can see i'm very generous
for the cheese, I don't want it to fall from the sides. Then i add the rest of the kadayıf on top.
Now this wooden spoon helps to make it into a shape, some of the wooden spoons that you have like
for example this is like a bit brown because these are all handmade but it's okay because wood is
alive. If it bends a little etc you can always put it in some water and it will get back to normal.
And never put these kind of wooden spatulas to the dishwasher. I am pushing from the side and pushing
from the top. Normally i want to show you, künefes are nicely made in these pans like this. Because
you wouldn't be able to find it, I didn't use them. Last but not least, it comes down to the pistachios.
These are called 'Boziç' these are like the green olives before the olives turn black. Green olives
are collected a little earlier, these are same the pistachios are collected in a little earlier time
and just dried like this. So it's bright green There are Iranian and Turkish pistachios sold
all over. I think one of the super foods, it's a bit expensive but it's worth it. This makes the great
taste of baklava. But if you don't have this pistachios you can use any kind of pistachios
that you can find. Okay it won't be the same if you have just like macadamia nuts or some things.
It comes to the hardest part to turn the künefe other side. Bahar: How do you understand when to turn it?
Does it move like this? It's important if it doesn't move like a leakage of cheese or something
you have to make sure by like pushing it understanding from which side to take the
sticking cheese out of with a spatula or something. Second, you can see it's done it's crunchy.
Now the hardest thing i want to show you the plates. Normally what i would do?
I have each different size of leads like this and with the lid just turn it or like this turn it
but because like the lid shouldn't have corners that stick out and it's really hard to find and
you might not have it so i thought a plate would be better. But with the plates probably you have
several different kinds of plates for example this plate is not good why the corners like stick out
and when you try to turn when you're trying to slide the kadayıf, if it won't be so easy.
Or a plate like this, this part is very long so it will go down and won't be so
good. This plate is not very curvy the sides are easily slippable compared to this one, like this.
So a plate like this which is almost the size of the kunefe. So it will get inside the pan.
If the plate is bigger and there's a space, when you're turning it might cause a problem. So, time
to turn the kunefe. To be on the safe side, turn the heat down and then put the plate like this
into the pan and then with a cloth that will hold both the handles. If they are plastic that would be
easier. What i'm going to do is use this hand and with the other hand i'll turn the pan like this.
Yes. So turn the heat again add the rest of the teaspoon of butter.
Turn it to the lowest heat and this shouldn't be on the plate too much.
Now i'm making slower but it's better if you're faster, slip the künefe.
Bahar: You know, how they turned it normally you know.. Like this. One day we can do it but my job is
to make sure that all you guys do it perfectly. So, there's a saying i want to tell you about
Şems-i Tebrîzî which is the inspiration of Mevlânâ Rûmî, he says that 'Hayatım alt üst olur
diye üzülme.. Nereden biliyorsun, hayatının altının üstünden daha güzel olmadığını?'
Now, this is to translate it; don't be sad if your life turns upside down, how do you know that
the upside is much better than the downside.. now as we have turned the künefe upside down,
that thing was in my mind to tell you guys. Now the bottom size is much crunchy again what i'm trying
to do, is push the edges like this to the middle i add the pistachios and it's very important for it
to be slowly cooked. This pushing the sides is very essential to pull the künefe together. Actually
you're kind of wrapping the künefe. Now as you can see it's growing because now the cheese are melted
and going great. By the way you can make this in the oven and usually the recipes are like that but
it's never never as tasty and as crunchy when you do this in a pan. Now we have the cold sherbet, whoa..
As you can see, it's kind of thick. I turned the heat down. It's very hot now it's time to put the sherbet.
And the rest, what i'm going to do? I'm going to drop around the pan
so from the bottom it can be soaked like this.
Now time to eat.
So this is how it looks, something like this.
And if you like the edge, the crunchy side,
which i am that person. Bahar: No i am that person. Okay you're that person, how do you like it?
mmm everytime..
Guys this is the Künefe Lady speaking, I've eaten kadayıf, everywhere almost around Turkey. Tasted
many people's and trust me if you do this this, this is the closest it gets to the best, which is in
Antakya, in this long bazaar. Which is probably there for about a thousand years i don't know. It
was so beautiful and enjoy this is how the famous kadayıf is done at its best in the tradition with
ingredients that you can find everywhere in the world. Bahar: I have been dreaming about this since the
day you said, you're going to cook this. Well, if you want, you can put more kaymak on it, on top.
Always heavenly. Bahar: That butter, the crunch the wonder taste of that cheese, sherbet there's
another saying in turkish don't eat it sleep with it and like not having sex.
So it has these kind of effects too guys. Now she's going through a sugar rush so normal.
Take care. Have a wonderful weekend and have a wonderful week hopefully. If you're under quarantine,
this is a great way to celebrate it. Don't forget to share the video like the video. Bye.