Tallaj, the semolina pastry of Arwad and Tartus

Tallaj is a Tartus sweet made from thin sheets of semolina-and-water dough, filled with walnuts or cashews, baked with ghee and soaked in syrup. It comes from the island of Arwad, and making it spread from there across the whole of Tartus governorate. It is most in demand after iftar, the meal that breaks the fast in Ramadan, and through the winter months.

How it is made

Semolina is kneaded with water and worked into sheets as thin as filo. There are two methods: the dough is either stretched out or rolled up. Walnuts and cashews go inside; during Ramadan a cheese version is made too. The tray bakes with samneh, Arab clarified butter. When it comes out, it is soaked with syrup.

From olive-pomace fire to the oven

Tallaj used to bake over a fire of olive pomace, called tamz. Today it bakes in an oven. The recipe has passed down through families: Mariam Abdulrahman Mahmoud told SANA she learned it from a relative, who had it from her own mother.

How it differs from karabij and knafeh

Karabij is also made with semolina and walnuts, but its dough is worked with ghee, shaped in a mould and dipped in natef rather than syrup. Knafeh and ballorieh are built on shredded kataifi pastry, shaabiyat on filo. Tallaj is thin sheets of semolina and water, and it soaks in syrup.

From the island to Lebanon

According to a SANA report from 2026, tallaj has spread beyond Tartus governorate and reached Lebanon, and demand has risen noticeably of late. Its name is still tied to Tartus and Arwad.

Where to find it

In homes in Tartus and on Arwad, after iftar in Ramadan and on winter evenings. Haidar Nuaysa, a folk-culture researcher, also named tallaj to Athr Press among the traditional sweets of the coast, alongside jazariyya and halva.