It may come as a surprise to some of you but Passover ended last night. No, not last week after the Seders but last night. After more than a week of matzas North African Jews have a cool way of reintroducing digestive normalcy into our daily lives – it’s called Mimouna. It’s celebrated in Israel and wherever North African Jews are to be found. Here in Montreal, Mimouna is the place to be after Passover and at Brakha’s house, the ashkenazim, who know a good fressing opportunity when they see it, outnumber the sephardim.

I want my moffletta

Here we see sisters Dina (left) and Brakha (right) preparing moffletta for the hungry hordes. Moffletta is a type of chewy crepe-like pancake garnished with butter and honey. I’d get y’all the recipe (it’s really good) but everytime I got near my Mom and my aunt they’d yell at me and make me cry. I’ll try some other time when Brakha is in a better mood. Don’t wait up kids …

Click below for more Mimouna fun:

This is my cousin Daniel and his lady friend Wendy. Daniel used to play in a Jewish hardcore band called My Cousin Dave back when he was my fave cousin. Now he’s just a weenie who plays for a band they renamed Fallout Theory. Why Fallout Theory? Cuz someone else came up with Smartly Pretty. So we all had about 8 shots of Arak while yelling the traditional Moroccan Jewish greeting of Tirbach! which means “you should win!” Win what? I dunno. More seats in the Knesset maybe? Wendy was like… so confused.

Smelliot

Elliot came all the way from New York and waited on us hand and foot and even baked us some vegetarian yumminess all so that he could sit here and have loads and loads of Brakha’s moffletta.

Israel and SharonIsrael, founder of JMatch.com and his lovely wife Sharon also joined us. They enjoyed such delicacies as Almond paste stuffed cigars and the Prince’s Ears as well as copious quantities of Arak. That Sharon can REALLY pack it away. Man, she scared me!



So at this point Brakha takes a break from making mofflettas. Mike is seen here enjoying the fruits of Mom’s labor while Mom reaches for a bottle of Arak shipped directly from Israel thanks to Laya …


Finally, Brakha has some time to enjoy Laya’s Arak some moffletta in peace. If enough of you request it I will attempt to extract a recipe from her, otherwise, next year in Jerusalem!

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About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

17 Comments

  • I remember at Hebrew U. some of my friends went to celebrate Mimouna, but they were never able to satisfactorily explain what it was. The pictures help. Now I understand it also involves arak.

    So, next year you’re doing Mimouna for all Jewlicious readers in Jerusalem?

  • ck forgot to mention a few things…like the 8oz shots of arak he was forcing on our guests and trying to stuff yummy honey soaked moufletta in people’s mouths with his sticky fingers. Much love to Brakha for working SO HARD to feed our friends. And as for that recipe, it’s sacred…a family legacy, so all y’all can just fogedaboutit. Tirbchou outsa’adou!

  • Please send any and all recipes to me. Someone stole all of my chometz-dik cookbooks over pesach (they were in an unsecure storage area which never was a problem in the past), and unless they are committed to memory, I have no recipes any more.

    Maybe that will persuade Brakha to share — dunno. I can only hope.

  • I also request that you post the recipe! Thanks.

    Peace.
    Fun Joel

  • Looks like so much fun. And of course, it’s not like I’m partial toward anyone named Dina or anything (especially when it’s spelled like that) so I wasn’t reading this with extra special interest, y’know…’twas being normal.

  • Oh yea I don’t want your stupid mofflettas anyway!! We Ashkenazim have Sweet Kugels and Gefilte Fish!! Ehh, I don’t even believe that myself….

  • Tanya, translations please…

    8-oz shots…were those 8 Canadian oz or US oz?
    😉

    I’ve never had them, but with butter and honey as flavorings, I don’t think I’d turn down moffletta.

  • Aw man. I guess I am going to have to try getting that recipe. This is not going to be fun ….

  • Negotiate. We’ll settle for two recipes of different specialty dishes instead of this one.

  • The recipe is sacred…let me tell you how sacred…when I asked Brakha, aka Mama, if I could help that night,specifically with the moufletta, she looked me straight in the eyes (with the look of love only a mother could have for her child) and said “If you don’t get out of my way I am going to get the hell out of here and leave you all.” Needless to say I ran as fast as I could…all I wanted was for her to teach me how to make this wonderful morrocan treat before my ashkenazi husband drowns out my culture with his damned gefilte and kugel, god help me and my son. And since I know Brakha loves me MUCH more than ck, sadly there’s no chance he’ll get the recipe…unless maybe he gives her another grandchild??

  • Tanya, impose Sephardic discipline when it comes to food in your house. Seriously, gefilte fish is a serious no no when you can make any number of delicious Sephardic fish dishes.

  • This is another one of those situations where I sit back and say to myself “You know what, the Sephardim just get it.” I went to a couple of Mimouna parties on Sunday night, and I can’t think of a better way to start eating chametz again after Pesach.

  • I’m Moroccan, but I can’t find any religious Mimmounas in Brooklyn. 🙁