Malawach facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Malawach

Malawach, as traditionally served by Yemenite Jews, with zhoug and resek.
Type	Bread
Place of origin	Yemen
Created by	Yemenite Jews
Main ingredients	Laminated dough, clarified butter, or butter, or cooking oil, occasionally Nigella sativa

Malawach or Melawwaḥ is a yummy flatbread. It comes from the traditional food of Yemenite Jews. This special bread was brought to Israel by Yemenite Jews when they moved there.

Malawach looks a bit like a thick pancake. But it's actually made of many thin layers of dough. These layers are brushed with oil or fat. Then, the bread is cooked flat in a frying pan. People usually eat Malawach with hard-boiled eggs, a spicy sauce called zhug, and a dip made from crushed or grated tomatoes. Sometimes, it's even served with sweet honey!

The Story of Malawach

Malawach is made from the same kind of dough as jachnun. Jachnun is another special bread eaten by Yemenite Jews on Shabbat, their day of rest.

Both Malawach and jachnun came from a type of flaky pastry called hojaldre. This pastry was brought to Yemen by Jews expelled from Spain. Over time, hojaldre changed into a richer dough called "ajin". Only the Yemenite Jews made this special dough.

How Malawach is Made

Malawach dough rolled out, spread with butter, and coiled up.

Malawach was traditionally made at home by the women in the Yemenite Jewish community. It uses a special layered dough. This dough is like puff pastry and is made rich with butter, a special kind of butter called clarified butter, or margarine. This makes the Malawach very flaky, with many layers, a bit like a croissant.

First, the dough is divided into balls. Each ball is rolled out flat. Then, it's often placed between wax paper and put in the freezer.

Cooking Malawach

Malawach is usually fried when it's still frozen. If you fry it fresh, the butter or fat might melt out of the dough. This makes it harder to cook and less flaky. Freezing the dough helps the butter stay solid when it touches the hot oil. This is how Malawach gets its famous flaky layers and puffs up a little.

Malawach is usually fried as one big flatbread. But sometimes, it's made into smaller pieces. It's always served hot. People traditionally eat it with zhoug, resek (tomato dip), and a hard-boiled egg. Today, many other toppings are popular too! These include honey, jam, labneh (a type of yogurt), shakshouka, baba ghanoush, matbucha, and muhammara.

Malawach in Israel Today

Malawach served in Israel with hard-boiled egg, resek (grated tomato) with zhug, Israeli salad, and an Israeli pickle.

Malawach has always been a very important food for Yemenite Jews. In the mid-1900s, many Yemenite Jews moved from Yemen to find safety in Israel. Because of this, Malawach became super popular in Israel. It's now a favorite comfort food for Israelis from all backgrounds.

While Yemenite Jewish families still make Malawach at home, you can also find it in many restaurants in Israel. Some restaurants even specialize in Malawach and similar dishes like jachnun.

Malawach is often used like a sandwich wrap, similar to a laffa. It's commonly served with shakshouka, hummus, sabich, and many other foods. It can also be a dessert with labneh and jam. Some people even use it as a pizza crust!

You can easily buy frozen Malawach in grocery stores across Israel. Big brands like Ta'amti and Osem sell it. They even export it to kosher supermarkets in places like the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and France. Frozen Malawach can also be used as a quick dough for other recipes, like bourekas or sambusak.

See also

In Spanish: Malawaj para niños