To go along with my recent focus on the Middle East, a bit of history and a really different recipe you might want to try: Malawach.
Yemen is located on the southernmost tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The first Jews were sent to Yemen during the time of King Solomon. They sailed the length of the Red Sea to Yemen to find gold and silver for the Temple in Jerusalem. The Hebrew preserved by this community is said to be the most authentic articulation of Biblical Hebrew. The majority of the Jewish community of Yemen was flown to Israel in the summer of 1949 on Operation Magic Carpet. With them came malawach, now a staple in Israel.
Sephardic cooking is a vibrant Mediterranean cuisine originating from Spanish and Portuguese Jews (Sephardim) who blended medieval Iberian traditions with flavors from their diaspora across North Africa, Turkey, and Greece. Characterized by olive oil, fresh vegetables, aromatic spices (cumin, cinnamon), citrus, and fish, it emphasizes balance, flavor depth, and slow-braising.
This recipe is from Sephardic Cooking by Copeland Marks
- 4 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 cups water, or enough to make a soft dough
- 1/4 pound margarine, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
Mix everything except the margarine together, knead a bit for smoothness. Then let the dough rest, covered, for 3 hours. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Flatten out one piece to about 6 inches in diameter. Incorporate about 2 teaspoons of margarine into the dough circle, pushing and kneading it in but maintaining the circle. Cut a line open from the center of the circle to the outside edge. Take one end and roll it around counterclockwise into a ball. Flatten out the dough to about 10 inches in diameter to make a pancake that is not more than 1/4 inch thick. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over moderate heat. Fry the pancake until brown and crisp, for about 5 minutes on each side.
Serve the malawach hot, straight out of the pan, with the tomato schug (spicy pesto) dipping sauce. This sauce can be used with meat and vegetables as well as the malawach.
- 1 cup tomato puree
- 2 bunches cilantro
- 1 bunch parsley
- 4-5 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 Serrano peppers or 4 Thai red chili peppers, stemmed
- 1/2 cup olive oil, plus extra if needed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
Cut and discard the visible, leafless stems from the cilantro and parsley. Wash and pat dry. Place the cilantro and parsley in a blender with the remaining ingredients. Blend at low speed, stopping often to smash down the ingredients as they combine. Turn up speed and blend thoroughly. Mix one teaspoon (or more to taste) of schug into one cup of tomato puree.
