We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Food

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

What Is Murtabak?

By A. Leverkuhn
Updated: May 16, 2024
Views: 11,681
Share

Murtabak is a specific regional version of a traditional type of food that is popular in many parts of the world. It is a sort of fried bread. Different variants of this dish are well known in parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and other neighboring locales, as well as in Southeast Asian areas from Indonesia to Singapore and Malaysia. In Arabic, the word is transliterated as mutabbak or mutabbaq, but in Malaysia specifically, the local recipe is written as murtabak.

A meat filling is often used in traditional Malaysian murtabak. The completed recipe resembles a sandwich. The bread is stuffed with various items, often with mutton or a similar meat, as well as egg, garlic and onions. Other common ingredients include jalapeno or Serrano peppers. Many recipes also call for clarified butter, locally called “ghee” as a part of the frying process or as a garnish for the dish.

In some parts of Malaysia, murtabak is commonly sold on the street. Sales people in small kiosks may cook this food to order and serve it to passers. This process for cooking fried bread products varies sharply with the usual methods of some other regions of the world, where fried bread discs are often served in restaurants on a plate, drizzled with additional items like syrup or molasses.

In murtabak and other popular street dishes of the region, the ground meat is flavored with a combination of herbs that gives the food its unique flavors. These include cilantro and mint, two well regarded spices in the region. Some versions of murtabak are also sold with a curry sauce.

In the etymology of the dish, the previously cited Arabic mutabbakis sometimes translated as “folded,” which helps to explain the form of the dish as it is sold around the world. Varieties of murtabak are folded in different ways for a diversity of presentations. Some may be formed with circular molds or otherwise made neatly circular, where others will be rolled into long rolls and cut into sliced portions.

One challenge in making murtabak is in getting the dough extremely thin, as some versions of the dish are made with very thin sheets of bread. In some cases, the traditional sellers of this food spin the dough to thin it out, where the specific skill is learned over time. Those who want to imitate these culinary merchants may need to put in significant time and effort to make their own versions as appealing and well formed as those that they have found in traditional street markets.

Share
DelightedCooking is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Discussion Comments
Share
https://www.delightedcooking.com/what-is-murtabak.htm
Copy this link
DelightedCooking, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

DelightedCooking, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.