The Syrian Arab Republic is a country in the Near East, in Western Asia, home to various ethnic and religious groups: Arabs are the largest ethnic group and Sunnis the largest religious group.
The modern Syrian state was founded in the mid-20th century, after centuries as part of the Ottoman Empire and a short period under a French mandate.
The post-independence period was turbulent, with numerous military coups and attempted coups.
The Syrian state and its ruling party have been condemned for human rights violations, frequent executions of citizens and political prisoners, and extensive censorship.
In 2011 popular uprisings erupted in the context of the Arab Spring, which later degenerated into a civil war, still ongoing, between government forces and rebel groups.
Syrian cuisine has one of the oldest culinary traditions in the world, with influences from Ottoman rule to French colonialism.
Flavorful and refined, it largely relies on lamb and mutton, dried fruits, legumes, rice, bread and spices.
Syrian cooking uses simple, fresh ingredients, often following rules established by the Quran.
In the Middle East a meal typically ends with a platter of fruit, often presented with crushed ice, but also with sweets.
Aleppo, for example, is especially famous for its sweets, which often have original shapes and emit a delicate scent of roses or orange blossom.
One example is the Atayef (also Qatayef or Katayef), similar to pancakes, fried, folded and filled with hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, raisins, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. They are cooked only on one side, then filled and folded, and finally soaked in a fragrant syrup, called Attar in Arabic.
There is also a cone-shaped version, baked in the oven, filled with Ashta (or Achta), a thick, velvety Middle Eastern milk cream, often flavored with rose water or orange blossom water.
They are usually eaten during Ramadan, after iftar, the meal that breaks the fast at sunset, or at suhur, the pre-dawn meal before fasting begins.
You can find other Carnival-related recipes in the blog collection “Carnival Sweets”.
