🇸🇾 Syria
Karabij
No Aleppan Eid without karabij and its bowl of natef — the mysterious soapwort foam every guest asks about and no one quite believes.
🔪 Prep: 50 min🔥 Cook: 20 min📈 Difficulty: Takes love
Cooking for
12 people
✨ What makes it special
Mahlab-scented semolina shells around pistachio-walnut filling, served with natef whipped from soapwort root.
Ingredients
- 500 gfine semolina
- 200 gghee, melted
- 1 tspground mahlab
- 1 tspyeast
- 250 gpistachios and walnuts, chopped
- 80 gsugar
- 1 tbsprose water
- 30 gsoapwort root (for natef)
- 200 mlsyrup (for natef)
Method
- 1
Rub the semolina with ghee and mahlab, add yeast and water, and rest the dough overnight.
- 2
Mix the nuts with sugar and rose water for the filling.
- 3
Shape thin-walled ovals, stuff generously, and seal into fingers.
- 4
Bake at 180°C until barely blond — pale is the pride.
- 5
Boil the soapwort, strain, and whip the liquid with syrup into stiff white natef.
- 6
Serve the karabij half-buried in natef.
🍽 On your table
How this dish looks served for 12