Ballorieh is a Middle Eastern dessert made from dough and pistachio filling. It is made of a special fibrous mass called Knafeh dough.
In general, Ballorieh is made from pistachios, flour, buttermilk, sugar, starch, and milk powder. These are the total ingredients in it. However, looking in more detail at its ingredients, it is found that it consists of three main elements: the dough, the filling and the sugar syrup.
dough
Ballorieh is made from Knafeh dough. Like most other types of dough, this dough is made from flour and water. However, it is a very special type of dough in the sense that it is made into long strips that can be molded into any desired shape. Many assorted types of Baklava such as Borma and Osh El Bulbul are made from this stringy Knafeh dough.
In some other Middle Eastern sweets, the stringy knafeh dough is ground up into a thick layer of dough. This is the case with the Middle Eastern sweets Basma and Knafeh filled with cheese.
Although it is simply made from flour and water, Knafeh dough is not as easy to prepare as filo dough, which is the main dough in many types of assorted Baklava and Middle Eastern sweets. Knafeh dough is first made into a very watery mixture which is then made into long strips using special equipment.
Stuffed
The filling is made from raw pistachios and sugar. The amount of sugar used can be adjusted to adjust the sweetness of the final dessert. In general, Middle Eastern candy fillings are made from many types of nuts, such as pine nuts, cashews, and walnuts, in addition to pistachios, but Ballorieh is one of the pieces that is made exclusively with a pistachio filling.
Sugar syrup
Sugar syrup is the last thing added to most Lebanese sweets after baking, and is the main source of their sweetness, as well as their calories. Regulating the amount of sugar syrup added to it is the most important factor in limiting the number of calories. Soaking it in sugar syrup is not recommended as it increases its sweetness above the comfortable level for most people and also increases its calorie count. It is best to use a moderate amount of sugar syrup. That’s also true of most Middle Eastern sweets and pastries.
Like all desserts, Ballorieh may contain a higher than average number of calories, but it also contains healthy ingredients. Its healthiest ingredients are pistachios. Pistachios are healthy nuts that add high nutritional value to this sweet dessert. Being very rich in pistachios, it is one of the various types of Baklava that contain the healthiest ingredients.