Malai

Malai is a traditional Ukrainian bread of corn (more rarely millet) flour, especially widespread in Bukovyna, Podillia, and the Carpathian region, where maize was long an important crop. It is a dense, hearty flatbread that in poorer families often replaced ordinary wheat bread.

Malai is made by mixing corn flour with water or milk, sometimes with the addition of eggs, cheese, pumpkin, or a little wheat flour for cohesion. The dough is placed in a mould and baked in the oven until a golden crust forms. Malai has a characteristic golden colour, a dense structure, and a pleasant, slightly sweet corn taste. It is eaten both as a bread with dishes and as a hearty bake in its own right — warm, with milk, brynza cheese, or honey. Malai is a tasty testimony to the richness of Ukraine's regional bread traditions.