Mofletta

Mofletta is a thin, sweet pancake from the Jewish tradition of North Africa, especially Morocco. It is eaten during the Mimouna celebration, the day after Passover, and marks the first leavened food eaten after the Passover week.

History

Mofletta belongs to the culinary tradition of the Jewish communities of the Maghreb, notably Morocco. According to the researcher Hélène Jawhara Piñer, the earliest known version appears in the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ, a cookbook written in medieval Spain in the 12th or 13th century. It describes a sweet called murakkaba, in which pancakes are cooked on one side only, stacked into a small tower and drizzled with melted butter and honey. This method is unique within that cookbook and appears in no other recipe, so its direct link to today's mofletta should be treated with caution.

As Jewish communities dispersed across the Mediterranean, the preparation travelled with them. When many of these families settled in Israel, the Mimouna became a communal celebration, and mofletta became one of its signature dishes.

Culture

Mimouna is held in the evening, once Passover ends. Families set out a feast of fruit, sweets and pastries for neighbours and visitors, and mofletta holds a central place on the table. The dough of water, flour and oil is rolled very thin and cooked in a greased pan until golden. It is served warm, spread with butter, honey, syrup or jam, and in some homes with nuts or dried fruit. Because it marks the end of the ban on leavened food, it brings together communities with North African roots around a shared tradition.