How to make savory martabak / murtabak

First, we make the pastry. Add in 300gr of all purpose flour in a bowl and make well in the center

Add in 1 tsp of salt

Add in 1 tbsp of oil

Gradually add in 190ml of water while start kneading the dough

Keep kneading the dough until smooth. The dough will be a bit sticky though. I knead it by hand actually :)

Divide the dough into 8-10 portions

Soak the dough in an oil for at least 1 hour. The oil is needed to soften the dough an easier to flatten. The oil will be used for frying later

while waiting for the dough soften, we can make the filling and the pickles

Boil 1/2 cup of vinegar ( I use apple cider), 1 cup of water, 2 tsp of kosher salt, 3-4 tbsp of granulated sugar. Note: please taste it before adding salt/sugar since everyone's tastebud is different

Meanwhile prepare 1 cucumber, remove seeds, finely sliced. Prepare some shallots, slice in half

Pour the boiling brine over cucumber and shallots slices to cover conpletely. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

For the filling, the original recipe calls mutton. But for this recipe I use minced beef (with fat). You can subtitute the filling with minced chicken or even meatless.

Finely sliced 10-12 green onions. You can use leeks if you like :) but I like intense green in my martabak so I only use the green part

Finely sliced 10 shallots and 1 big onion

In a pan, heat 3 tbsp of oil and cook the shallots and onion until fragrant. Add in 300gr of minced beef. Add in salt, white pepper and 2 tsp of curry powder, 1/2 tsp of sugar.

The green onions is the last to be added since it has a very delicate texture

The cooking time will only take about 5 minutes on medium fire. Set aside

still while waiting for the dough :) we can make the martabak sauce :)

Heat 300ml of water. Add in 75gr of palm sugar and 25 gr of granulated sugar.

Add in to the saucepan, 1 garlic. Crushed and finely sliced.

Add in to the saucepan, some bird-eye chillis. Finely sliced to release the heat (if you like)

Cook until thicken. Add in 2 tbsp if lemon juice in the end of cooking

Put in a serving bowl. Set aside

Finally ... make the martabak ...

The ready dough will look like this. Heat the oil which was used to soak the dough in a frying pan or deep fryer

Take 1 dough and put it on a well-greased surface or marble.

Work each ball of dough into a very thin pastry sheet. First flatten with your oiled palms, then thin it further by pulling the edges.

Proffesionals flatten the dough by flipping the dough in the air in a circular motion, like a pizza maker does.

Whisk the eggs and mix with the curried meat filling.

Spoon about 2 tbsp of the filling evenly.

Fold in the four sides - like an envelope

Into a nice square .. well, at least Im trying haha :)

My best shot! Hahahah ... Afraid to tear the pastry .. and yet, this is not 'envelope' enough :D Maybe you can make better envelope than me

Carefully and quick lift the martabak using both hands onto a preheated oiled griddled or pan

Cook for 2-3 minutes till golden brown. Lift martabak up, and brown the other side

Do it for all balls if dough :) and look at the result! Cut into 2 or 4, serve warm or cold with a bite of bird-eye chilli ... or

Serve the martabak with the cucumber-shallot pickles and hot and sweet sauce :) hipe you like it. Enjoy!