Malooga
Malooga is a Yemeni flatbread eaten with bean dishes, scrambled
eggs, spiced
buttermilk, and many other Yemeni savory dishes.
Preparation
Malooga dough is made very much like pizza dough with
water,
yeast,
salt, and
flour. It is kneaded very well and set to rise for an hour. It is cut to large rounds. Each round is then stretched, and warm ghee is spread over the stretched dough, it is folded over and more ghee is applied, and this process is repeated 1-3 times. All sides are pinched together to form a neat ball. After a few minutes of sitting, the round is stretched into a flat circular shape and placed on a makhbaza that is used in placing the dough on the wall of a hot taboon much like the tandoor. It is then
glazed with an egg-wash,
ghee, or buttermilk and baked until the bottom is brown and with some browning on top.
Malooga has historically been an inexpensive food for most poor and famished Yemeni people. Owing to the increasing cost of yeast and flour, the cost of Malooga increased over 150% from 2004 to 2007.
