Ballorieh is a Middle Eastern dessert made from dough and pistachio filling. It is made from a special stringy dough called Knafeh dough.
In general, Ballorieh is made from pistachios, flour, butter ghee, sugar, starch, and milk powder. These are the total ingredients in it. However, looking in more details at its ingredients, one finds that it consists of three major items: 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. It is however a very special kind of dough in that it is made into long strings that can be molded to take any desired shape. Many assorted Baklava types, like Borma and Osh El Bulbul are made from this stringy Knafeh dough.
In some other Middle Eastern sweets, the stringy Knafeh dough is grounded and made into a thick layer of dough. This is the case in the Middle Eastern sweets Basma and cheese filled Knafeh.
Even though it is simply made from flour and water, Knafeh dough is not as easy to prepare as phyllo 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 mix which is then made into long strings using special equipment.
Filling
The filling is made from raw pistachios and sugar. The amount of sugar used can be adjusted in order to adjust the sweetness of the final dessert. In general, Middle Eastern sweets 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 are exclusively made with a pistachios filling.
Sugar Syrup
Sugar syrup is the last thing that is added to most Lebanese sweets after they are baked, and it is the main source of their sweetness as well as its calories. Regulating the amount of sugar syrup added to it is the most important factor in limiting it amount of calories. Soaking it in sugar syrup is not recommended as it increases its sweetness above the comfortable level for most people and increases its amount of calories as well. It is best to use moderate amount of sugar syrup. That is also true for most Middle Eastern sweets and pastries.
Like all desserts, Ballorieh can contain a more than average amount of calories, but it as well contains healthy ingredients. Its healthiest ingredients are the pistachios. Pistachios are healthy nuts that provide high nutritious value to this sweet dessert. Being very rich in pistachios, it is one of the assorted Baklava types that contain the healthiest ingredients.
