Kadayif

Plate of Kadayif

Kadayif (Arabic), Kadaif(Albanian), kataifi, kadaifi (Greek κα(ν)ταΐφι), is a very fine vermicelli-like pastry used to make sweet pastries and desserts. It is sometimes known as shredded phyllo.

It is found from the Balkans to the Levant, and is a feature of Middle East, Greek, and Levantine cuisine.

Kadayif is made by drizzling a row of thin streams of flour-and-water batter onto a turning hot plate, so they dry into long threads resembling Shredded Wheat. The threads are then collected into skeins.

The threads are used to make pastries of various forms (tubes or nests), often with a filling of chopped nuts, like that used for baklava. A kadayif dessert is made by layering a mat of kadayif pastry, a filling of chopped nuts, then another mat of pastry. The pastries or dessert are painted with melted butter, baked until golden brown, then drenched in sugar or honey syrup.

Kadayif is sometimes used, in fusion cuisine, to make savory pastries.