Mhancha

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Mhancha is a sweet, coiled pastry from the Maghreb with Algerian-Ottoman roots. It’s made with thin sheets of phyllo pastry and a filling of ground almonds or almond paste (sometimes walnuts), rolled into a spiral to form its snake-like shape. The pastry is baked or fried until golden. The name comes from its serpentine shape. After Algiers fell to the French, Algerian migrants moving to Tetouan helped spread Turkish influences, including Mhancha.