Murtabak, also spelled mutabbak, matabbak, and mutabbaq (in Arabic مطبق? meaning “folded”) and also known as martabak, is a dish popular in the Arabian Peninsula and Southeast Asia.
It is a flat pastry, savory or sweet, made from wheat flour without yeast and with a filling that can include, aside from eggs, also meat, vegetables, or herbs.
Being widely popular among Muslim communities, it generally does not contain pork or other products that do not meet Halal requirements.
The word “mutabar,” originally used to refer to the dish, is a Macedonian word composed of “muta,” used by the Keralites to indicate an egg – a significant component of the dish – and “bar,” an abbreviation of the word barota, or bratha roti, which refers to the bread.
It originated in Yemen, a country with a high concentration of Indians.
Through Indian traders settled in that country (many of whom were Tamil-Muslims), mutabar spread to many areas of Asia, including the Indian subcontinent, the Arab world, and Southeast Asia.
Today, murtabak is a very common dish in many locations and a popular street food.
In Indonesia and Malaysia, the countries with the most murtabak recipes, filled pastries known nationally are prepared, such as “martabak har” from Palembang, Indonesia, with curry sauce.
Typically, to prepare a savory murtabak, the enclosed pastry is filled with a stuffing based on eggs, chicken or duck, onions, tofu, tempeh, beans, cabbage, or carrots and fried in vegetable oil or a wok on high heat.
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- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 6 pieces
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Malaysian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 onion
- 3 green chilies (thinly sliced)
- 9 oz clarified butter
- 6 duck eggs (or chicken eggs)
- 1 lb ground chicken (or lamb)
- 1 tsp ginger (minced)
- to taste coriander
- to taste mint
- to taste salt
- to taste vegetable oil
Steps
For the filling: in a pan melt 1 tablespoon of clarified butter, add ginger and onion.
Sauté and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add the ground meat and continue cooking until it becomes slightly golden. Then add the chopped coriander and mint. Season with salt.
Let it cool.
For the pastry: in a large bowl sift the flour and salt, then add the clarified butter and enough water to knead.
Let this dough rest for 2-3 hours. After this time, take a part of the dough and form balls.
Grease your hands and turn each of these dough balls into thin sheets (6).
On each sheet, add a teaspoon of clarified butter, fold the edges to form a square, then dust with a bit of flour and roll out a rectangular sheet.
Carefully break an egg into the center and gently spread it over the central area.
Then, fill with chilies and add 2 tablespoons of the meat filling, fold all sides like an envelope.
Cook the murtabak on a preheated griddle or pan, already greased with a bit of oil.
Let it cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until it turns a nice golden brown.
Serve hot with a side of pickles or chutney to taste.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Is Indonesian Murtabak different from Malaysian Murtabak?
In Indonesia, there is also a slightly different preparation method, where a thin dough pancake starts to be fried without filling, and only during the frying process is a raw egg added with a small amount of ground meat or vegetables that are wrapped in the dough.
At the end of preparation, this type of murtabak resembles an omelet.How are Sweet Murtabak prepared?
Also prepared in Indonesia and Malaysia, they contain a filling that can be based on chocolate, condensed milk, fruit, nuts, and other ingredients.
The sweet murtabak follow preparation methods similar to the original Arabic recipe and local savory variants.
One of the most known sweet filled pastries is the Pandung murtabak, containing chocolate and peanuts, and the pankansky murtabak, with cheese, condensed milk, and chocolate.
