Joumana's Arab Pancakes (Ataîef)

18
Ingredients

2h
Prep Time

20m
Cook Time

2h 20m
Ready In

Recipe: #18151

March 19, 2015

Categories: Breakfast, Cheese, Middle Eastern, Brunch, Mothers Day, Vegetarian Flour, Kosher Dairy, more

recipe by:
dienia b

"This is the quintessential Ramadan treat. According to Claudia Roden, it has remained unchanged since the days of the Caliph Mustakfi of Baghdad in the tenth century! These pancakes are traditionally either stuffed with a sweet cheese, or walnuts i think they stuff them and deep fry them , you can , im not this is like the honeycomb pancake recipe i have , just a different filling and syrup"

Original is 12 servings

Metric US

I've Tried It

Nutritional

Serving Size: 1 (85.1 g)
Calories 158
Total Fat - 2 g
Saturated Fat - 1.1 g
Cholesterol - 5.3 mg
Sodium - 162.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate - 32.2 g
Dietary Fiber - 0.4 g
Sugars - 23.6 g
Protein - 3.7 g
Calcium - 175 mg
Iron - 0.3 mg
Vitamin C - 0.4 mg
Thiamin - 0 mg

Step 1

Place the sugar, honey and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Add the lemon juice;

Step 2

Boil the syrup for 8 minutes or until it gets a bit syrupy (test it on the back of a spoon and see if running your finger will leave a mark).

Step 3

Add the flavorings and simmer a few seconds more then turn off the heat and let the syrup cool. This can be done several weeks ahead and the syrup kept in a jar tightly closed in the fridge.

FOR THE CHEESE

Step 4

Combine the cheese with the honey and walnuts and flavoring, set aside till needed, covered.

FOR THE PANCAKES

Step 5

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl; place the yeast and 1/4 cup of warm water, plus the sugar, in a small ramequin and stir to mix; let the yeast bubble up.

Step 6

At this point, add it to the flour mixture along with the rest of the warm water. Stir continuously to prevent lumps.

Step 7

Cover the bowl and let the batter rise for about one hour or up to two hours; it should be bubbly.

Step 8

When ready, stir the batter to smooth it out (it will feel elastic).

Step 9

Heat a nonstick or cast iron skillet and brush with a film of oil; when it is hot, drop 2 tablespoons of batter,tilting the pan a bit to obtain an even circle, about 4 inches in diameter or larger.

Step 10

Let the pancake bake on one side; it will fill up with bubbles and the surface will go from shiny to dull.

Step 11

At this point, remove the pancake and immediately fill with one tablespoon of the cheese mixture (or less, depending on the size of your pancakes), pinching it shut. Set it aside and do the others.