Qatayef

Preparation

Soaked in a sweet vanilla-honey syrup and filled with dates and nuts, these little pancake dumplings make a fab fruity treat.

1. To make the pancake batter, put all the ingredients in a bowl and carefully whisk in 400ml warm water until you have a smooth batter. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put the caster sugar, honey and vanilla extract in a saucepan with 150ml water. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved and then bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, until syrupy. Keep warm.
3. For the filling, finely chop the dates and the mixed nuts. Mix together the dates and three-quarters of the nuts, reserving the remaining quarter of chopped nuts to garnish.
4. When the pancake batter has rested, heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Using around 2 tablespoons of batter for each pancake, pour the batter in little rounds in the pan, to make around 4 pancakes at a time. When the mixture has bubbled and dried out on top, don’t flip it but remove to a board or baking tray and cover with a clean tea towel. Continue until you have used all the batter.
5. Take a pancake from under the tea towel and hold it in your palm. Add a teaspoon of the date and nut filling, then fold the pancake in half around the filling and seal the edges together. Transfer to a plate and continue until you have filled all the pancakes.
6. Heat around 5cm of vegetable oil in a large deep saucepan over a medium heat until the oil is hot. You can test it by adding a small cube of bread – if the bread turns golden within 30 seconds, the oil is ready. Fry the pancake parcels, around 5 to 6 at a time, for about 2-3 minutes until golden, turning halfway. Remove to a board lined with a paper towel, then toss each pancake parcel in the warm syrup and transfer to plate. When all the pancake parcels have been fried and dipped in syrup, scatter over the remaining nuts to serve.