The Gulf and Arabia · Volume 09, The Terrace, the Wadi and a Kitchen Carried Out
Lahoh
The Tihama and the highland fringe
Illustration
- Time
- 3 hours
- Researched
- Researched from 91 sources in the brief
A spongy, semolina-and-wheat flatbread, cooked one side only on a hot griddle, its surface covered in small, even bubble "eyes" formed as the fermented batter sets. Lahoh's structural relative, laxoox, canjeero, is fully treated in the Somalia volume, AF-11, which names lahoh directly as its own Yemeni ancestor, carried across the Bab-el-Mandeb strait by the same Red Sea trade described above. Yemen is lahoh's actual home; this is its full tradition-and-elevation treatment.
As tradition built it
Makes 6 to 8. About 3 hours, mostly fermenting.
Ingredients
- 250g fine semolina
- 100g plain flour
- 1 tsp fast-action yeast
- 0.5 tsp sugar
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 500ml warm water
Method
- Whisk the semolina, flour, yeast, sugar and salt with the water to a thin, pourable batter.
- Cover and leave in a warm place 2 to 3 hours, until visibly bubbling and smelling faintly sour.
- Heat a griddle or heavy non-stick pan over medium heat. Pour a ladleful of batter, spreading it thin.
- Cover with a domed lid and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until the surface is covered in small holes and set through, and the underside is lightly golden. Do not flip.
- Stack, covered, to keep soft, and serve warm.
Notes
No precise traditional ratio or fermentation time specific to Yemeni lahoh, as distinct from Somalia's related laxoox, was found; the ratio above follows the general logic of a wet, fermented semolina-and-wheat batter and should be judged by the eyes it produces, per Rung 5, rather than by the clock alone.
What a modern chef changes
The eyes judged, not guessed at
Rung 5
Method
- Ferment overnight in the refrigerator instead of a few hours at room temperature, for a more developed, complex sourness and a more reliable eye structure.
- Loosen the batter with a little extra water than instinct suggests before cooking; a wetter batter, within reason, produces more eyes than a stiff one.
- Judge doneness by the surface, not the clock: once the eyes have fully opened and the surface has lost its wet sheen, it is done, whatever the timer says.