A pan fried, stuffed pastry like sandwich, a popular street food in the Middle East
Murtabbak is a popular street food item found in the middle east. Mutabbak is an Arabic word that meals folded. It’s like a sandwich that can be stuffed with many variation of fillings and folded in a square package and pan fried. The outside is crispy and the inside has a hearty filling. In the filling you can have cooked vegetables, ground beef, shredded chicken all held together with egg. Ground beef is most commonly used which is why some also call is Khima roti. It is a yummy filling dish that can be served as an appetizer or a complete meal in itself.
This is not an everyday dish as it does take some work, but its a perfect weekend dish when you want to try something new and different. Its a very versatile dish as you can change the filling to your liking and make your own variations, vegetarian or non veg. Instead of ground beef you can easily substitute shredded chicken or other mixed vegetables.
Served with green chutney, imli (tamarind) chutney, raita or simply with ketchup, this is a kids favorite. Even picky kids will like this, and its easy to eat on the go and a perfect lunchbox item or a picnic. Try it out!
Makes 4 Murtabbak (each 3″X3″X1″)
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Time: 2 hours to rest dough, 30 mins to make filling, 30 mins to fold and cook
Ingredients for the dough:
- 1 cup all purpose white flour
- 1/4 cup warm milk (microwave for 30 secs)
- 4 tbsp oil
- Pinch of salt
Ingredients for the filling:
- 1lb of ground beef
- 1/2 cup small diced onion
- 1 tsp whole cumin seeds (jeera)
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp adrak lasen paste
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp turmeric (haldi)
- 1/8 tsp Chili Powder, chili flakes or 1 diced fresh green chili
- 1/2 tsp cumin coriander powder (dhana jeera)
- 1/2 tsp Garam masala
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 2 tbsp chopped green onion
- 2 eggs
For Assembly:
- Store bought Spring roll sheets – 4. Cut into 3″ X 3″ pieces.
Method:
First make the dough:
- Mix together all the dough ingredients and knead for 5 mins till its soft and smooth. Drizzle the top with oil, cover with towel and set aside for 2 hrs.
Next make the filling:
- In a frying pan on medium high heat, add oil add cumin seeds. Stir fry juts a min till it you can smell the spices and it just starts to brown.
- Add onion and ginger garlic paste, saute for 2 mins till they soften. Color is ok but not needed.
- Add ground beef, salt, turmeric, chili powder, cumin coriander powder, garam masala and stir well. Stir fry breaking up the meat till it is fully browned and cooked through, approximately 10 mins. Depending on how fatty the meat is, you may need to drain the excess grease it once cooked.
- Turn off the heat and cool the meat, add green onion, cilantro to the meat.
- Once completely cool, add 2 beaten eggs to the meat mixture.
- Break the dough apart into 4 even portions.
- Grease the countertop with oil.
- Roll out each portion into a thin circle approximately 8-9″ in diameter. It will be a stretchy dough like pizza and will take some time to get it paper thin. Don’t worry about the exact shape as long as it is in a circular shape. If it tears, just pinch it together. Use oil not dry flour to roll out on counter.
- In the middle lay the spring roll sheet piece. This is to give it some strength to hold the filling without tearing.
- On the spring roll sheet, add the filling.
- Fold the sides in from left and right then top and bottom to make a rectangular/square shape. Be sure it overlaps in the middle so ensure proper seal.
- In a shallow frying pan or tava on medium low heat, add oil and gently pick up and lay the Murtabbak in the pan. Cook on all sides including the edges. There will be a golden color on the outside.
- Do a toothpick test, poke a knife or toothpick in the middle and see if it comes out clean. Cook until all the egg is fully cooked.
Tips:
- If the outside is already browned and the inside egg is still runny and not fully cooked, you can put it on a sheet pan and bake in the oven until the egg is cooked through.
- Easily substitute ground beef for ground or shredded chicken. Save time, buy store bought rotisserie chicken and shred it up.
- Because this takes some time and effort to make, make double and freeze it for next time. In an air tight container, it can freeze for up to 6 months. Just reheat in a pan to get the crispy texture back.