Malawach
Malawach is traditional Yemenite fried bread. It consists of thin layers of pastry brushed with oil and fried in a frying pan. It is usually served with hard-boiled eggs, grated tomato dip and z'hug. The original Yemenite malawah is prepared with samneh, which is an Arabic for ghee or clarified butter. Kosher Yemenite restaurants in Israel, which serve malawah along with meat dishes use margarine or olive oil instead.
1/2Kg (1 lbs 2 oz) white flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
100 g (3.5 oz) butter or samneh
2 ripe tomatoes
canola oil
olive oil
Preparation time: 1 hr. 45 mins
Difficulty level: Medium
Servings: 6
Special equipment: Dough mixer
Ingredients
Preparation
Bring the butter to room temperature (it must be very soft).
In a mixer bowl put flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Mix in low speed, gradually adding water (about 1 1/2 cups) until you get soft dough.
Continue kneading for about 10 minutes, then spread 2 tsps. canola oil over the dough and let rest for half an hour.
Divide into 6 parts, form balls and let rest for another half an hour.
Roll out each ball into a thinnest possible circle.
Put 2 tsps. of butter and spread it all around the surface with your hand.
Fold in two and put another tsp. of butter and spread.
Fold in four and repeat. Create a ball and roll out into a 20 cm (8") disk.
Fry in a very hot skillet with 1 tbsp. canola oil from both sides until golden brown.
Prepare the tomato dip: grate the tomatoes, leaving the skin out. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil and some salt and mix. Serve with z'hug (see recipe).
Some ideas:
Ziva - before frying the pastry, roll it around some mixture of Feta and Mozzarella cheeses into a tube shape, sprinkle sesame seeds and fry from all sides.
Malawah pizza - after frying, spread some pizza sauce and sprinkle plenty of Mozzarella and put in a very hot oven just until the cheese melts.
Malawah croissants - spread each pastry disk with your favorite chocolate spread, cut into pizza-like slices, roll each slice starting at the rounded edge towards the sharp tip. Bake in the oven on medium heat for 15 minutes.
