Martabak Street Food from Indonesia

During the street food trip in Yogyakarta, I made it a goal to eat plenty, do a lot and most importantly enjoy it all. This means also going out with the scooter and finding some random stall to eat some street food. This is how we also gotten to try Martabak. But also because of going around, I found many great places to eat which I can recommend:

On the last evening before going back we took the scooter and ride around. What kind of street food in Yogyakarta could we find? We found a cart on the side of the road selling some street food. We went to check it out.

Martabak

Martabak is a streetfood not only from Indonesia but in general commonly found in Asia. In Indonesia, there are two different kinds of Martabak: Manis or Telur. It means sweet and egg. This will be about the Martabak Telur.

It’s a hearty snack, or side dish and has a filling effect. Some eggs are stirred with some filling, green onions, and minced meat. This is wrapped around the dough during the frying process and formed and folded into a square or rectangle.

The taste is not as eggy as I thought, but it was fatty food. I did miss some sambal with it, that would open a whole new taste for a standard Martabak. Probably this choice is available but we just took the normal one. If not, then take it back home or your accommodation and add some Sambal.

How to make Martabak

Big plate to prepare martabak
The plate where Martabak is fried on and 2 huge spatula’s used as the cooking tools

Martabak, when everything is prepared, takes about 7-10 minutes to cook. You. Make sure you have a spaceous pan. On the street, they use a very large in diameter hot plate.

Step 1: Stirring

stirring process of the filling for Martabak

Stir some eggs with minced meat and green onion leafs. This is the basic filling of Martabak. You can add something else for your own liking: garlic, chili’s, etc.

Step 2: forming the dough

Forming the dough

The thin dough needs to become a big enough circle. With a repetitive movement, from a small circle, you can wind it into a bigger flatter one.

Step 3: putting the ingredients on the pan

When the dough is formed, put it on the hot plate. Quickly add the filling on top. You should hear it sizzle immediately as the oil is hot enough to fry your Martabak.

Step 4: Folding and Flipping

With your spatula’s carefully form the circle into a square by folding the circle inwards, making 4 straight lines on each side. Voila, a square. Now let it fry on one side for a bit and flip it carefully. Tip: your Martabak is still open, so if you are not careful you can lose all your content.

Step 5: Finishing up

Leak out the oil and cut your delightful snack. look at how tasty the endproduct looks like.

Photo taken with realme 5 of martabak
end product

How to make the dough for Martabak

To make the dough that will form your square, you will need a all-purpose flour, a bit of water, oil (a little bit), and salt (even less). Mix these in a good proportion: 2 cups of flour, a pinch of salt, and a tablespoon of oil.

To make the filling, just prepare Eggs and something you want to mix with it. An example could be green onions, garlic, mushrooms if you feel like it. You can basically create your own this way. So try your own version of this street food.

This filling dish concluded my street food tour in Yogyakarta. After leaving I made a plan for when I come back to try even more food! I hope you enjoyed reading this and plan to get some food experience in Indonesia as well. For now, the Yogyakarta series is to be continued…

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