What is shafout?
Shafout is a cold Yemeni dish built on three elements: lahoh bread, whipped yoghurt, and a mix of green herbs. It’s usually served as a starter or a light meal in hot weather, and it’s one of the least rich and most refreshing Yemeni dishes. The name comes from shaff — soaking and moistening — the step that decides whether the whole dish succeeds.
Ingredients
For the lahoh
- 2 cups white flour
- ½ cup corn flour (optional, gives more visible holes)
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- About 3 cups lukewarm water
For the yoghurt mixture
- 2 cups full-fat yoghurt
- ½ cup water or buttermilk
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- A pinch of salt
For the green mix
- 1 bunch fresh coriander
- 1 small bunch mint
- Hot green chilli, to taste
- Juice of ½ lemon
Method
1. Make the lahoh
Mix the flour, yeast and salt, then add the water gradually until you have a runny batter closer to pouring cream than to pancake batter. Cover it and leave it to ferment for two to four hours, depending on the weather. When it’s ready, clear bubbles appear on the surface.
Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat with no oil, and pour in one ladleful without spreading it. Leave the lahoh until holes appear across the whole surface and the top is completely dry — and don’t flip it. Lahoh is cooked on one side only, and this is the point where first-timers most often go wrong.
2. Whip the yoghurt
Whip the yoghurt with the water, garlic and salt until it’s smooth and runny with no lumps. You want it to flow off the spoon without being watery. If the yoghurt is very sour, thin it with a little milk instead of water.
3. The green mix
Pound the coriander, mint and chilli with the lemon and salt in a mortar or a food processor, keeping the mix slightly coarse rather than completely smooth. Over-pounding robs the coriander of its aromatic oils and darkens its colour.
4. Assemble
Cut the lahoh into medium pieces and lay them in a deep dish in a single layer, pour the yoghurt over until it covers them, then lay a second layer, and so on. Spread the green mix over the top. Leave the dish in the fridge for twenty to thirty minutes before serving, so the lahoh soaks up the yoghurt without dissolving into it.
Three common mistakes
Cooking the lahoh on both sides: it closes the holes so it doesn’t absorb the yoghurt, and the shafout comes out dry inside even though it’s soaked on the outside.
Pouring the yoghurt over hot lahoh: the yoghurt splits and the texture is ruined completely. Let the lahoh cool first.
Soaking too long: more than an hour turns the lahoh into a solid paste with no layers. Half an hour is enough.
When is shafout served?
Shafout is a summer dish par excellence, usually served cold before the main dish or alongside it. In Ramadan it’s often on the iftar table, because it refreshes and opens the appetite without weighing down the stomach before prayer. Anyone who wants it as a full meal adds a dish of hot tawajin to complete the contrast between cold and hot — a common way of serving it in Yemeni homes.
How shafout varies between regions
Shafout isn’t one fixed recipe. In Taiz and Ibb it leans sour with plenty of yoghurt, while in Sanaa whipped fenugreek is added, making it thicker and closer to saltah in character. In some regions, thin malooh bread replaces lahoh when it isn’t available — an acceptable substitute, though it changes the texture, because malooh doesn’t have the holes that soak up the yoghurt in the same way.
Garlic is a point of debate: some homes leave it out entirely so the coriander stays pure, and others consider it essential. The practical rule is to start with one small clove and add more next time if you want.
Nutrition in brief
Shafout is one of the lightest Yemeni dishes: it relies on yoghurt for protein and on lahoh for relatively slow carbohydrates, while the fresh herbs add fibre with hardly any calories. The original recipe has no added fat at all, which sets it apart from most dishes in this cuisine. If you’re watching calories, you can use low-fat yoghurt without changing the dish much — unlike areekah, whose fat can’t be reduced without changing its identity.
If you’d rather not make it at home
Shafout needs time and fermenting, and doesn’t always fit your day. You’ll find cold and hot Yemeni dishes on our full menu with prices and calories, and you can order from your nearest branch directly. And for anyone interested in the origins of Yemeni dishes and how they’re made, read also the history of Yemeni areekah and its original ingredients.