The what shop? In where? Okay, so lets start at the beginning because 11 years ago i had never heard of Kanafeh, or Bukawara!
According to our friends at Wikipedia:
"Kanafeh is a traditional Middle Eastern dessert made with shredded filo pastry, or alternatively fine semolina dough, soaked in sweet, sugar-based syrup, and typically layered with cheese, or with other ingredients such as clotted cream or nuts, depending on the region."
Source: Kanafeh
As for Bukawara , Wikipedia said:
"No results found for Bukawara."
Maybe I imagined it! Its a little town, close to Riffa and not too far from Awali , where I lived for 11 years in Bahrain. It's most famous resident was Top Fashion Designer, Mr Corleen Durero, My houseboy!
So what do you do when you turn up to collect Corleen and there is no sign of him ( back then, before he was famous, he did not have a car so I had to collect him every Friday and he was always late ( Yes , Jake, even then!) , Well you go in search of breakfast and thats when I found the Kanafeh Shop in Bukawara!
So , out of curiosity I went in . the shop was run by a very nice man whose English consisted of three words :
"One?" "Two? " "Everything?"
My reply was either one or two fingers ( depending whether I was buying just one for me or one for Corleen as well) and a thumbs up, because if you are going to break your diet by having Kunafa, you may as well go the whole hog, and have everything!
So now lets give you the recipe , as I have marked this as a recipe blog!
I hope you like the Arabic Music too
Maureen will love this blog... "That's three different ways you have spelt Knafeh, Kunafa, Kanafeh now, Neil"
In the shop he prepared the base in advance and then heated it up and added the liquid and toppings.
One of the reasons I loved the tiny shop was it was so simple- fridge, gas rings, tray of toppings and that was it. They only sold Kunafa, and there was always a queue!
As they say in Tagalog , I became a Suki ( Salamat Tita Gracie for my new Tagalog word) or regular customer, and one day I was given the honour of cooking Kunafa for Corleen and I . Imagine if he had asked Corleen to cook?!
I did leave adding "everything" to the man from the Kunafa shop though!
The best thin about Kunafa is its very cheap and always served with a smile, and of course it's hot and freshly made to order. The sad news is that now Corleen has a car I hardly ever go to Bukawara, and , even worse, when I did go last , the Kunafa shop had closed. However it will always remain in my happy memories of Bahrain!
Sometimes we would take them home to eat before Corleen started work, other times we took them to the park and had them before our walk, and once we took one to Gaye Bentham in Amwaj when we went to collect some artwork I had framed.
Hope you enjoyed my unplanned Kunafa blog. As usual I was lookin fro some pictures of afternoon tea at the Orangery for my work colleague , Shawn, and I found the Kunafa pictures. I thought "that will make a good blog", and the rest, as they say, is history!
Until the next time Ingat Palagi ( good luck) , Mahal Kita ( I love you) and Kita Kits ( see you soon).
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Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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