Malawax

Ingredients

Batter

• 250 gplain flour
• 2eggs
• 60 gsugar
• 500 mlmilk
• 100 mlwater
• 1 tspbaking powder
• ½ tspsalt
• 1 tspvanilla or ½ tsp ground cardamom

To cook

• oil or butter, for the pan

To serve

• sugar
• honey
• sesame oil, which is the Somali habit
• black tea with cardamom

Directions

1. Despite the name, this is not the Yemeni layered bread malawah. Malawax is a thin sweet pancake, and the two are constantly filed together because the names look alike in English.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Whisk in the milk, water and vanilla or cardamom.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the wet mixture and whisk to a thin, smooth batter.
5. It should be noticeably thinner than a pancake batter, close to single cream, because malawax is meant to be thin and lacy rather than thick.
6. Rest the batter 20 minutes before you cook the first one.
7. Resting lets the flour hydrate and the bubbles settle, which gives a smoother, more tender pancake.
8. Heat a flat pan over a medium heat and wipe it with the barest film of oil.
9. Pour a ladleful into the centre and immediately swirl the pan to spread it thin.
10. Swirl at once, while the batter is still liquid. A second’s hesitation and it sets in a thick disc.
11. Cook until the surface is set and covered in small holes and the edges lift away, about 1 minute 30 seconds.
12. Those holes are the sign it is right, and they come from the baking powder working as the batter sets.
13. Flip it and give the second side only 30 seconds.
14. The second side is only to set it. Cooked as long as the first, it goes dry and stiff.
15. Stack them on a plate as they come off the pan, one on top of another.
16. Stacking them warm keeps them soft, because they steam each other gently.
17. Wipe the pan between pancakes rather than adding more oil each time.
18. Serve warm, sprinkled with sugar, drizzled with honey, or brushed with sesame oil, which is what Somali households do.
19. It is breakfast and after-school food across Djibouti and Somalia, eaten with sweet spiced tea.
20. Canjeero, the fermented sour flatbread, is the other Somali pancake and it is a completely different thing: savoury, tangy, and made from a batter left overnight.

Technique

• The batter can be made the night before and keeps well in the fridge.
• Sesame oil poured over sweet pancakes surprises people outside the region and is standard within it.
• They are eaten folded into quarters and picked up by hand.

Substitutions

• Water for all the milk, which gives a lighter and thinner pancake.
• Cardamom, vanilla or nothing at all, according to household.

Variations

• Made larger and thinner, closer to a crêpe.
• With banana mashed into the batter.
• Canjeero, the fermented savoury Somali flatbread.

History

A Somali breakfast and after-school favourite across Djibouti, cooked on a flat pan and stacked warm.

Frequently asked questions

What is Malawax?

Malawax is a breakfast from Djibouti: sweet thin pancake of flour, egg and sugar, eaten with tea. A Somali breakfast and after-school favourite across Djibouti, cooked on a flat pan and stacked warm.

How long does Malawax take to make?

Malawax takes 10 min plus 20 min resting of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 12. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Malawax?

Yes, within limits. Water for all the milk, which gives a lighter and thinner pancake. Cardamom, vanilla or nothing at all, according to household.

What is the most important thing to get right in Malawax?

It should be noticeably thinner than a pancake batter, close to single cream, because malawax is meant to be thin and lacy rather than thick.