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Ataif with Walnuts and Coconut

ataif with walnuts and coconut

I must begin today’s post with some apologies to my blogosphere friends. I am woefully behind reading and commenting on your blogs. This Ramadan schedule of late nights, early mornings, midday naps interspersed with phone calls of holiday greetings, reflections and prayer and trying to update a blog so that others looking for Ramadan recipes are not left in the lurch, I am not able to keep up with reading all your wonderful entries. Please forgive me, I haven’t forgotten you, I just need some time.

Apart from the tiredness, the fasts are going well. They are very long, there is no denying that, and it is very hot here in Denver but I have been turning on the air conditioning and staying indoors. Come mid afternoon, I head to the coolest part of the house, which is the sunken family room, plop myself on the sofa and enjoy the cool air from the ac as it floats around me (our ac vents are in the floor). If I am lucky and get my mind to calm down from the million and one things I need to do, I can grab forty winks.

ataif with walnuts and coconut

In most Islamic centres around the US and I know in the UK, we have dinners every night that are sponsored by the congregants. One family or maybe two families will split the cost of a dinner and feed the fasting folks. There is a great reward to feed a fasting person in Islam so the dinner roster gets signed up pretty fast.

The Islamic Center of Boulder, where my family and I go isn’t any different. Every night there is dinner sponsored by one of the families and since most of these people are my friends, it’s nice to go and share a meal with them.

My children love to go because its like eating out but for free! I don’t mind either way, but for the kids I make the effort to take them. It is important to me that they understand community and the lessons of sharing and helping.

If any of my readers are in the Denver area and would like to experience an Iftar dinner, please message me and I will provide you with more information. I would be more than happy to have you join us in our celebrations. I am hosting my dinner on July 22nd; menu hasn’t been set yet!

ataif with walnuts and coconut

So, today’s recipe is one of my favourite Ramadan desserts. I don’t think many of my readers know that I was born in Saudi Arabia. My parents left India a few years after they married and moved to Saudi. I was born there and lived there for about seven years before moving to London.

The Middle East has been a big part of my family for years. There has always been somebody who has lived there or continues to live there now. My brother, uncle and cousin are living in Saudi now and I have aunts in Qatar and lots of extended family members dotted around the ME.

Middle Eastern food is much a part of me as Indian and British. I love almost all Middle Eastern food and cook it often at home too.

One of my favourite part of Middle Eastern food is the desserts. I don’t know why I find them so irresistible, because honestly, they are not fancy in any way, but they are so good. I guess that makes a case for simplicity is key.

These ataif or Arabic pancakes with walnut and coconut filling are just that, simple and delicious. My absolute favourite Ramadan dessert are the Ataif bil Ashta that are already on my blog, and these are pancakes filled with a clotted cream. Oh. My. Gosh. Check those out too and you will understand why I am crazy over them.

Since I had the cream filled ataif already up. I thought I would share my coconut and walnut filled ones. These are amazing too, toasted walnuts, sweet coconut with a hint of cinnamon sugar, all gently fried so they are nice, golden brown and crispy on the outside.

ataif with walnuts and coconut

 

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Ataif with Walnuts and Coconut

Serves: 24 pancakes

Lacy Arabic pancakes filled with a mixture of walnuts, coconut and cinnamon sugar.
Ingredients
PANCAKES
  • 1½ cups/225g plain/all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup/45g semolina
  • ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
  • 2 cups/472ml warm water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
WALNUT AND COCONUT FILLING
  • 1 cup/115g toasted walnut pieces, finely chopped
  • ½ cup/50g unsweetened coconut (I used Bob's Red Mill)
  • 1 tablespoon organic cane sugar
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
SUGAR SYRUP
  • 2 cups/450 g caster or superfine organic sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1-2 tablespoons orange blossom water
  • oil for shallow frying, about a ¼-1/2 cup
Instructions
SUGAR SYRUP
  1. Place the sugar, water, lemon juice in a pot and bring to a boil.
  2. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 8-10 minutes.
  3. The syrup should be thick enough to lightly coat the back of a spoon.
  4. Add the orange blossom water and pull off the heat to cool. Put aside.
  5. Alternatively, you can very easily used warmed honey in place of the syrup.
MAKE THE FILLING
  1. Put the chopped walnut, coconut, cinnamon and sugar and toss together.
MAKE THE PANCAKES:
  1. Using a mixer or a blender, mix together the flour, semolina, yeast and sugar.
  2. Add the warm water and mix or blend on high so everything gets incorporated.
  3. Add the baking powder and mix through.
  4. Put aside for a half hour or so, till the batter is bubbly.
  5. Heat a griddle or frying pan and brush with a bit of oil.
  6. Use a ¼ cup measure to drop 5″ pancakes onto the griddle.
  7. Cook the pancakes till the surface is covered in bubbles and is cooked.
  8. DO NOT flip. These pancakes are cooked only on one side.
  9. Place the cooked pancake on a plate to cool slightly.
  10. NOTE: The photo collage above is from the ataif bil ashta post, I was being lazy.
  11. Same procedure though.
  12. While still warm, take a pancake and place a teaspoon of the walnut and coconut filling in the middle and seal up the sides, by pinching, to form a crescent shaped filled pancake.
  13. Put aside and repeat with the rest of the pancakes.
  14. Do not overfill the pancake.
  15. You can judge by each pancake whether you need a teaspoon or less of filling.
  16. You may lose a couple of the first few pancakes but once you get the hang of folding and pinching, you should be fine.
  17. You may also thin out the batter with about ¼ to ½ cup water if the pancakes are too thick.
  18. The batter is thinner than pancake batter since these pancakes are a bit thin and lacy since they must be folded and sealed.
  19. Once you have the desired number of pancakes stuffed, heat some oil in a large fry pan.
  20. The oil doesn’t have to be too deep, just a half inch or so in the pan, enough to shallow fry the pancakes.
  21. Once the oil is hot, add the pancakes, as many as will fit in your pan and fry till golden brown.
  22. Flip to brown the other side and then drain on paper towels.
  23. To serve, drizzle with a bit of sugar syrup or place a little pitcher with the syrup on the side for guests to help themselves.
Notes
If you do not want to use sugar syrup, you can easily use warmed honey in it's place. Use orange blossom honey and add a teaspoon of orange blossom water to enhance the flavour and aroma.
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ataif with walnuts and coconut

 

I hope you can get to try these wonderful Arabic delicacies. These are a favourite in the Middle East and especially around Ramadan time. Some Arabic bakeries in big cities carry these during Ramadan so you may get lucky if you have one such bakery near you (The Sweet Factory in Houston has them in Ramadan and I know Shatila in Dearborn, Michigan has them). However, they are easy to recreate so you can make these with no problem.

I am also guest posting over at Kitchen Flavours blog today with my recipe for the Ataif Bil Ashta. If y’all get a chance please go over and support me! Lubna is a great blogger from India who has some amazing recipes and photography on her site. She has been hosting a Ramadan event called Joy From Fasting to Feasting for a few years now and asked me to participate this year.

Ramadan-2013

Hope y’all have a great weekend. I will try and catchup with everyone’s blogs this weekend!


Comments

    • This why I love Middle Eastern desserts, they are so different. Thanks for the comment Nusrat!

  3. Oh, what a coincidence…. I’ve never heard of the dish before and then I see two beautiful recipes in one week. One here and one over at ChefInDisguise. Looks fantastic Nazneen – the lovely colour they have at the end… the look of them makes my mouth water!

    • Yes! I saw Sawsan posted one too last week. I usually re publish my old cream ataif one every Ramadan, because they are very much a Ramadan food in the ME. I love them!

  4. Have you made aatif with some kinda cream/cheese filling? ive had those before and have been looking for the recipe

    • I have the ataif Bil ashta recipe on my site, which is the cream filling. There is also a version with cheese but since I don’t really like that one, I rarely make it. If the one you ate is creamy, then it was the ashta one. The link is in my post above. Thanks for your comment!

  5. Pancakes with coconut fillings! LOOOOVE! <3 <3 I'd love to try these! It's very hard to visit blogs (even including friends' blogs) in our busy daily life. I do my best to catch up on reading when I can instead of watching TV (haha) but still, I can't do it as much as I wish. Take it easy and family always comes first. 🙂
    Nami | Just One Cookbook recently posted..Grilled Miso Chicken 鶏の味噌漬け焼きMy Profile

    • Thanks Nami! You are right, it’s hard but you have to support them like they support me. But I am taking it easy!

  10. They look marvellous, and like they would ooze out gorgeous sugar syrup as soon as you bit into them. Gorgeous.I love anything with orange blossom water as well. These would not last 2 minutes in my house!
    Jas @ AbsolutelyJas recently posted..Sausage SnobMy Profile

    • Thanks Kumar! They are delicious, I absolutely love them, like I mentioned a million times already!!

  12. I am a firm believer in naps, Nazneen. As one who has frequent bouts of insomnia, naps are my lifeline. I am lucky enough to be near a ME bakery and need to drop by just to see what treats they have for Ramadan. Now, because of you, I may actually know a few of the treats and can buy them with a tiniest modicum of knowledge, instead of “What’s that?” Thanks, Nazneen.
    ChgoJohn recently posted..Grilled Spring Rack of LambMy Profile

    • Oooh, lucky you! I wish I had a ME bakery near me, we havea couple but they are nothing like the ones in Houston or Michigan. And yes, you must go during Ramadan because they will have stuff they don’t always have. Try the, what I call, sticky balls but a more polite name would be awami or loukmades (though that is Greek) but they are like donut holes drizzled in honey or syrup. So GOOD!Or You can always text me photos and I’ll tell you what they are 🙂

  14. I’m a sucker for afternoon naps, too. 😉 Glad your Ramadan has been going well. What fun to get together with friends and take turn hosting dinners – wonderful idea. This is such a lovely dessert – I’ve had it before, but never made it. It’s really simple, so I need to (or convince Mrs K R, the real sweets experts in our house, to do so). Good stuff – thanks. And I’m on my way to read your guest post!
    john@kitchenriffs recently posted..Summer White Bean and Quinoa SaladMy Profile

    • Aren’t afternoon naps the best?! Especially when it’s cold..aaah. I am so glad you’ve tried them, then you know there are good! I know Mrs KR will have no problem recreating these, they’re pretty simple.

    • Ooh, peanuts sound good too! Thanks Kiran, it is hard managing the family when fasting but I guess that’s the role of the mother!

    • I know what you mean! It’s very hard on the little ones. alham, mine are all grown up now so we can tolerate the late nights but it does take a toll on you.

  21. It is surely a delicious post. It has all my favourite ingredients- coconut, cinnamon, walnuts. What more can I ask for!
    I have Muslim neighbors where I stay and nearly every day of the holy fasting month after they break their fast, they share the food with us. It is heart warming 🙂
    easyfoodsmith recently posted..MASALA SPICED ROASTED BEET LASSIMy Profile

    • Thank you! I am so glad that your neighbours make you feel part of our celebration. This is what Ramadan is about, community, neighbours and sharing xx

    • You’re welcome Lisa! Just use a neutral flavoured oil to fry, like coconut or avocado and Canola if you use it. I don’t use Canola anymore so I don’t recommend it.

  23. I knew you lived in Saudi for some time, I didn’t know you were born there. My only taste of ME was a 3-4 hour layover in Dubai on the way to Chicago. I wonder if any restaurants in Denver serve this item. I am craving ME food now.

  25. Delicious! I love the coconut and walnut filling. I know this is a difficult month for you and no need to worry as everyone is having a difficult time staying on top of things such as our hobbies. Take care of your self and be careful of dehydration in Denver. I know you can drink anything during the day so be very careful. Take Care, BAM
    Bam’s Kitchen recently posted..Caramelised Red Pepper Pesto SteakMy Profile

    • Thank you Bam! I am catching up finally, it’s been a hectic first few days. It will settle down soon. Denver is hot but I stay indoors so I am usually ok.

  26. That’s an yum recipe….love the flavor of coconut and walnuts…both are my favorite ingredients…..It’s been my honor to have you on my blog today…..

    • Thank you Ash! I am beginning to catch up finally, spent all day making holiday phone calls to family so now I have some free time!

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