Malawach

Malawach

Malawach served with tomato sauce and skhug
Type	Bread
Place of origin	Israel, Somalia and Yemen
Main ingredients	Puff pastry, oil or fat

Malawach or malawah (Hebrew: מלאווח or מלווח‎‎) is a fried bread that is a staple of the Yemenite Jews.

Malawach resembles a thick pancake, and it consists of thin layers of puff pastry brushed with oil or fat and cooked flat in a frying pan. It is traditionally served with hard-boiled eggs, skhug, and a crushed or grated tomato dip. Or for a sweet taste, it is often served with honey.

Through immigration of Yemenite Jews to Israel, it has become a favorite comfort food for Israelis of all backgrounds and national origins. Frozen malawah can be used as a substitute for dough in different recipes.

Malawach is similar in preparation, taste and texture to the Somali malawax where it is usually eaten for breakfast with lashings of ghee and honey on weekends. It is also similar to the South Indian parotta (also known as Kerala paratha) and North Indian Lachha paratha, which are both layered flat breads popular in Indian cuisine. It also resembles the North African msemmen, a typical bread eaten with honey and butter (sweet), or stuffed with a red pepper and tomato mixture (savory) used in Moroccan cuisine, Algerian cuisine (Berber cuisine) cuisine.