Za'atar Pizza/Man'oosheh/Lebanese Manooshe

Lebanon is a country in Western Asia with Syria, Isreal,Cyrpus as boundaries. A unique cultural history has helped to make Lebanese food the most popular of all Middle Eastern cuisines. Lebanon has been ruled by foreign powers that have influenced the types of food the Lebanese ate.The Ottoman Turks controlled Lebanon and introduced a variety of foods that have become staples in the Lebanese diet, including olive oil, fresh bread, baklava a sweet pastry dessert, laban (homemade yogurt), stuffed vegetables, and a variety of nuts. France took control of Lebanon and introduced the flan, a caramel custard dessert and buttery croissants. I have been running a month of blogging marathon with A to Z International flatbreads and today is my last post of this month's mega marathon. And for the alphabetic letter 'Z', i couldnt think more than Zaatar spice mix, hence i opted for Zaatar pizza for this last post. The manoosheh recipe is often compared to  Italian pizza, hence it is called “Lebanese pizza”.Zaatar manooshe aka Zaatar pizza is the most popular version. Each flatbread is topped with a mixture of za’atar and olive oil before being cooked and are most often consumed at breakfast with tea, but also after dinner accompanied by soft drinks.

Doodhi Molagootal/Bottlegourd Molagootal

A balancing meal calls always for rice, dal and some side dishes, and obviously being a South Indian i cant give up rice for any reason. I usually make different dals or gravies to have with rice especially during weekends as i dont carry my lunch to work. Obviously i plan everything to make some rice based dishes during weekends. And here comes a super easy, protein rich Kerala dal based curry aka molagootal. Actually molagootal resembles quite like Tamilian's kootu, which calls for couple of vegetables and dal. Both when cooked together, dal and vegetables are mashed and served with tempering and spices. Molagootal calls  most of the ingredients almost like kootu, though a coconut based spice paste is added to bring a nice aroma to this Kerala dish. Molagootal is a well known dish in Palakad. Molagootal can also called as mulakushyam in many places. However both dishes are the same and the name varies from place to place.

Yemeni Malawah/Yemenite Malawach

Yemen is known as Republic of Yemen situated in Western Asia, with Sana'a as capital this country is indeed right of Mecca, the holy city for muslims. I have already tried couple of dishes from this cuisine. You might have noticed that am running a month of blogging marathon with A-Z International flatbreads and i grabbed a Yemenite flat bread aka Malawach. Malawach/Malawah is quite a Yemenite Jewish fried bread which is traditional in both Yemeni and Israeli cuisine. Malawah or Malawach resembles very much as a crispy pancake which is served with variety of accompaniments. This bread calls for a similiar preparation technique of puff pastry. Hence this Malawah consists of thin layers of puff pastry which is brushed with fat or oil and cooked in frying pan or baked in oven. Malawah is a staple of all Yemeni Jews.This dish is served always with hard boiled eggs,chopped or crushed flavoured tomatoes and cheese. Through immigration of Yemenite Jews to Isreal, this bread had become a favourite comforts food for Israel of all backgrounds and national origins.

Xaxaba Diphaphatha/Phaphatha from Botswana

Am running a month of blogging marathon with A-Z International flatbreads.And we are almost nearing the end of this Mega marathon. And my today's flatbread is supposed to start with the alphabetical letter 'X'. X is definitely a complicated alphabetic letter to get a flatbread. Obviously i grabbed a flatbread aka stove topped muffins  from Priya's space which ressembles quite like English muffins from Xaxaba of Botswana.Botswana is officially known as Republic of Botswana is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. Botwana cuisine is unique which shares some characteristics with other cuisines of South Africa.Sorghum and maize are the main crops grown in Botswana. African cuisine is based towards the meat and grains. Mopane worm which looks like a caterpillar is eaten by the Botswana peoples by cooking them in hot ashes, boiled or dried and fried. Bread flour is not easily available in their diet, hence the flours have been imported for some years, so there are various bread recipes have become a part of the national food. The most common are dumplings like matlebekwane,flat cakes like diphaphatha and fat cakes like magwinya have their own place in a Botswana dining table.