Malawach

Malawach is a Yemenite Jewish flatbread that resembles a thick pancake made of thin layers of laminated dough brushed with oil or fat and cooked flat in a frying pan, and it became a fixture of both Yemeni and Israeli cuisine after Yemenite Jews brought it to Israel following their mid twentieth century emigration. According to food historian Rabbi Gil Marks, the dough is the same as that used for jachnun and originated as a puff pastry variant carried to Yemen by Jews expelled from Spain. The laminated dough is enriched with butter, clarified butter or oil, formed into balls and traditionally frozen, then fried directly from frozen in a small amount of fat so the butter stays solid and produces flaky layers. It is served hot, traditionally with hard boiled egg, the herb sauce zhoug and a grated tomato relish called resek, and in modern practice sometimes with honey, jam or labneh.