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Kataifi - Kataifi Pastry with Nuts

A sweet pastry made of kataifi strands filled with almonds and walnuts, baked and soaked in a citrus‑spiced syrup.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 993 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Kataifi - Kataifi Pastry with Nuts

Ovenmoderate oven
Time45 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Mix both kinds of nuts with sugar in a bowl.

  2. Add egg and wine and blend well into a soft and smooth filling.

Roll the pastry

  1. Take a handful of kataifi pastry and spread the threads slightly into a square.

  2. Fold both ends of the pastry into a rectangle.

  3. Brush the pastry with butter.

  4. Take a tablespoon of filling and spread it lengthwise on one side of the pastry.

  5. Roll up the pastry around the filling into a 3‑inch long tube.

  6. Repeat the procedure to make the other kataifi.

  7. Place the tubes next to each other in a greased oven dish.

  8. Sprinkle the remaining butter on top.

Bake and soak

  1. Bake the kataifi in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes until golden.

  2. Dissolve sugar in a saucepan with hot water.

  3. Add the remaining syrup ingredients.

  4. Let the mixture boil for about 15 minutes until a thin syrup is formed.

  5. Remove the orange rind and cloves.

  6. Leave the syrup to cool.

  7. Remove the kataifi from the oven.

  8. While hot, pour the cooled syrup over the kataifi.

  9. Cover the pastries with a thin serviette.

  10. Leave for one hour to absorb the syrup and become soft.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

374Calories
9 gProtein
21 gFat
37 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 13 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Pastrynot in our table0
Syrupnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Almond + walnuttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together993 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Walnut + orangetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Kataifi pastry
Forms the crisp, shredded outer layer that browns and wraps the filling.
Melted butter
Adds fat that helps the pastry brown and turn golden in the oven.
Almonds
Provide the main nutty filling texture and body.
Walnuts
Add richness and a slightly bitter nutty flavour to the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and dissolves into the syrup that soaks the pastry.
Egg
Binds the nut filling so it holds together when rolled.

The step that matters

Pour the syrup while the kataifi is hot. Hot pastry absorbs the cooled syrup and softens, while cold pastry stays dry. Syrup must be fully cool so it does not make the pastry soggy or steam away the crispness.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, almond, walnut, sugar, egg, red wine, syrup):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Pearfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, almond, walnut, sugar, egg, red wine, syrup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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