Kadaif

Kadaif is the Bosnian syrup pastry made from shredded kadayıf threads: two layers of butter-soaked strands pressed into a tray with a filling of chopped walnuts between them, baked until the top is crisp and golden, and drenched in a lemon syrup while hot. It belongs to the family of Ottoman sweets that Bosnia kept after four centuries of Turkish rule, alongside baklava, tulumba and hurmašice, and in Sarajevo and Mostar it is sold by the square in the slastičarne, the pastry shops, and made at home for Eid, weddings and slava feasts. The Turkish tel kadayıf is the same raw material, but Bosnian kadaif is its own dish: walnuts rather than pistachios, a heavier soak of syrup, often a spoon of cinnamon or clove in it, and a cut into squares or diamonds like baklava rather than the small round nests of Greek kataifi.