[3][4] Malawach resembles a thick pancake but consists of thin layers of puff pastry brushed with oil or fat and cooked flat in a frying pan.

[5][6] It is traditionally served with hard-boiled eggs, zhug, and a crushed or grated tomato dip.

[9][10] Malawach was traditionally prepared at home by the women in the Yemenite Jewish community, and is made out of a laminated dough similar to puff pastry that has been enriched with either butter, Clarified butter, or margarine if pareve; creating a very flaky consistency with many layers, similar to a croissant.

It is served hot, traditionally with zhoug, resek, and hardboiled egg, although a variety of other pairings and dips are now popular as well such as honey, jam, labneh, shakshouka, baba ghanoush, matbucha, and muhammara, among others.

Frozen malawah is commonly available in grocery stores across the nation, by brands such as Ta'amti, and Osem, and is exported abroad to kosher supermarkets in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, and other nations.