Qatayef

Loose batter is spooned onto a hot griddle and cooked on one side only. The upper face stays open and moist, and that is the face the filling grips. The disc comes off the griddle, is filled, pinched shut into a half moon, then either fried or baked. Syrup goes over it as it comes out, while it is still hot.

Two fillings, two plates

The walnut one is sealed, fried and eaten hot. The cream one is not sealed at all: small discs are left open, piled with qishta and rolled at the edge in crushed pistachio, then served cold. A cheese filling exists too. You will see all three on the same counter.

Why only in Ramadan

The record goes back to Abbasid kitchens and the sweet appears in tenth century cookbooks, but today its season is the month. In Ramadan a griddle is set up in front of every sweet shop, and when the month ends the griddle goes away. Looking for it the rest of the year is wasted effort.

When it is eaten

After the evening meal, as part of the walk that follows it, and sometimes at the pre dawn meal too. Tea or plain coffee alongside.

Where a traveller finds it

On Ramadan evenings in the sweet shop streets of the Old City in Damascus and at the temporary stands set up at the market exits. Plain discs are also sold by weight, which is what people filling them at home buy. Eat the fried ones straight away; they soften as they wait and the syrup sinks.