Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Mahjouba (Mhadjeb Stuffed Semolina Flatbread)
Thin, hand-stretched semolina flatbreads folded around a jammy tomato, onion and harissa filling and griddled crisp.
Algerian · medium · serves 4
prep 40 min · cook 25 min
~447 cal · 15g protein · 90g carbs · 2g fat · 7g fiber · 6g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Mahjouba, also called mhadjeb, is one of Algeria's best loved street foods, a paper-thin crepe folded into a square around a spiced tomato and onion filling. The name hints at something veiled or covered, describing how the filling is tucked inside the delicate dough.
Sold hot from griddles at markets across Algeria, it is eaten for breakfast, as a light meal or during Ramadan. The dough is nothing more than , water and oil, stretched by hand until almost translucent, which is the real skill of the dish.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
3 cups fine
about 1 1/4 cups warm water
3 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
3 tomatoes, grated
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sweet paprika
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Knead the semolina with salt, 1 tablespoon oil and the warm water into a soft, elastic dough, then rest it, well oiled, for 30 minutes.
2
Cook the onions in oil until soft, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, harissa, cumin and paprika, and simmer to a thick jammy filling, then cool.
3
Oil a surface and your hands and stretch a ball of dough out very thin, then spread on filling and fold the edges into a sealed square.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the filling thick and the dough well oiled so it stretches thin without tearing or leaking.
4
Griddle each parcel in a lightly oiled pan for 3 to 4 minutes a side until golden and crisp, and serve hot.
Algerian street-food cooking, Algiers.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Algiers. Ramadan reorders the kitchen. The fast is broken with chorba before anything else, most often the frik version thickened with cracked green wheat, and the pastries that follow run to honey, almond and orange flower water. The baguette and the coffee habit are French leftovers sitting beside Berber flatbreads.
🗺️
Algeria. Couscous belongs to four countries at once. UNESCO inscribed the knowledge, know-how and practices around it in 2020 as a joint element of Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, a rare four-nation nomination that exists precisely because no one of them can claim it. Chorba frik, thickened with green cracked wheat, is the soup that opens the meal through Ramadan.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Algeria
Friday Couscous with Seven VegetablesSteamed couscous under a saffron-tinted vegetable stew, the meal that gathers Algerian families every Friday.
MsemenFlaky square semolina flatbreads folded in layers and griddled, served with honey or jam.
ChakhchoukhaTorn flatbread bathed in a spiced lamb, chickpea, and tomato sauce, an Algerian dish for gatherings.
Browse all Algeria recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Griddle or flat pan.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
Make it a Algeria meal
Cherbet el LozDrink
Kalb el LouzDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Mahjouba (Mhadjeb Stuffed Semolina Flatbread)?
Thin, hand-stretched semolina flatbreads folded around a jammy tomato, onion and harissa filling and griddled crisp.
Where does Mahjouba (Mhadjeb Stuffed Semolina Flatbread) come from?
Mahjouba (Mhadjeb Stuffed Semolina Flatbread) is a Algerian dish from Algiers, Algeria.
Can Mahjouba (Mhadjeb Stuffed Semolina Flatbread) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Mahjouba (Mhadjeb Stuffed Semolina Flatbread) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Mahjouba (Mhadjeb Stuffed Semolina Flatbread) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Mahjouba (Mhadjeb Stuffed Semolina Flatbread) take to make?
About 65 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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