
East Africa · Breakfast
Malawax (Sweet Cardamom Crepe)
Delicate, sweet Somali crepes infused with ground cardamom and ghee, cooked until lacy and golden.
The story
Eaten across Somalia as an essential morning staple or afternoon tea accompaniment, malawax bridges traditional flatbread making with sweet pastry craft. Somali pastoralists and coastal dwellers alike prize it when paired with shaah cadays (spiced milk tea). Unlike the fermented, tangy canjeero, malawax relies on sweet whole milk, sugar, and finely ground cardamom seeds to produce a tender crumb with distinctive concentric golden rings formed by swirling the ladle from the center outward.
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