It's a popular dish in the Arab world, especially among people who are Palestinian.
The two main types of knafeh I see in Jordan are knafeh na'ama (made with semolina dough) and knafeh khishnah (made with long thin noodle crust). The basic way I tell the two apart is that the first option is soft, and the other option is more crispy.
To cook the knafeh, you have to cook the dough in oil and then spread soft cheese on top. It's common to use Nabulsi cheese (cheese from the Palestinian city of Nablus). After heating the dough and topping it with cheese, you add more dough. After, you add syrup made of water, sugar and possibly rose water. Pistachios or other nuts are often sprinkled on the top.
Knafeh is the most popular dessert in Jordan. It's often a celebratory dessert, which is why my coworker brough knafeh to share with the office to celebrate his new home. The knafeh fed the whole office which is made up of at least 100 people. It was a lot of knafeh!
Both tourists and locals love to eat knafeh from two popular places: Habiba and Nafeesa. These are the two most popular knafeh shops in Amman. I personally like Habiba the best. In downtown, there is a small, famous Habiba shop where sometimes you might need to stand in line for an hour to get your knafeh.
Here is a video of how they make knafeh at Habiba. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9caQNwxlDFI
If you'd like to give knafeh a try, you can stop by Trader Joe's to get their frozen knafeh!
