The Turkish term for the Arab dessert
qatayif.
made from sweet, jelleid adzuki bean paste and agar agar or kudzu starch. “When this dish arrived in Japan from China, it was a vegetarian substitute for mutton soup, as indicated by its name written using the Chinese character
yo, meaning ‘sheep’ and the word
kan for ‘soup.’”
Eric C. Rath, Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Japan (Berkeley: U. of California Press, 2010), 91.
Turkish term for
filo.
yufka
zalabia (also zalibīya) Middle East
A tangle of crispy dough made drizzling thinnish batter into hot fat. The fritter is then soaked in a sugar syrup. The fritters date back to at least Medieval Persia but are now widely dispersed across the Middle East and North Africa. The Indian
jalebi is similar and probably a descendant of the Iranian original. In the Muslim world they are associated with Ramadan and among Syrian Jews with Hanukah.
zalbia zalibiya
Fritters usually made using a cream puff dough (pâte à choux). They are traditional for St. Joseph’s Day, March 19.
A dairy-free rice “pudding” made by thickening long-simmered rice with starch. In Turkey,
zerde is traditional for weddings, births, and other special occasions.
Zimtsterne Austria, Germany, Switzerland
”Cinnamon stars,”
are cookies popular throughout the German-speaking countries for the Christmas season. The recipe is typically made with a
Linzer dough (see
recipe) though a sugar-butter cookie dough is also occasionally used.
Thanks to Kristin Buessing.
Photo: Kristin Buessing
Literally “cinnamon rings.”
A small ring-shaped cookie flavored with cinnamon popular around the turn of the 20th century.
Literally “lady’s upper arms.” There are made by filling a filo cylinder with a cream filling.
Early version of meringue cookies. A recipe appears in Domenico Romoli’s cookbook, first published in 1560.
