Murtabak Recipe – How To Make Singapore Murtabak at Home

Murtabak Recipe – How To Make Singapore Murtabak at Home

The Murtabak recipe is for a delightful folded flatbread or roti that is stuffed with juicy flavorful chicken. This dish is extremely popular in Singapore and famous in Arab and Asian countries. This easy recipe of Murtabak Singapore creates a little packet of goodness that is moist on the inside and crisp on the outside. Take a journey to Singapore with a local favorite food everyone will go crazy for.

What Is Murtabak?

Before you know the Murtabak recipe, it is important that you know its meaning, composition, and origin. It is a type of flatbread or roti which is popular in Asian and Arab countries like Singapore and Malaysia. So you will also know the Murtabak recipe Rasa Malaysia. 

These folded bread are square in shape and are light golden in color. When you have your first bite you can discover either meat, eggs, onions, vegetables, and more. So if you are wondering if there are any vegetarian Murtabak recipes, then you got your answer by now. All you have to do is replace the meat with your preferred vegetables and the process remains the same. 

The filling and seasoning of this recipe depends from country to country. This folded roti that is made with wheat flour, has a savory and sweet version. 

It is generally made with meat, eggs, vegetables, and herbs. Its sweet version requires nuts, chocolates, and condensed milk. In countries where this recipe is popular, it is eaten as an everyday food and also a famous street food. 

In this Murtabak recipe, we will focus primarily on chicken which is one of the most authentic and tastiest versions available in Singapore.

History Of Murtabak

Murtabak, also known as matabbak, mutabbaq, and mutabbaq, which comes from the Arabic word meaning “folded” (Arabic: مطبق). 

However, there are some historians who link this word to the Macedonian term “mutabar”, by which this dish was known in the ancient times. 

The first version of Murtabang was prepared in Yemen. Yemen was previously populated by an important Muslim Indian Community of Tamil origin. So the Yemeni Murtabak recipe is a Murtabak recipe in Tamil. 

It is being said that the Indian Muslim Traders have carried this recipe on their commercial events throughout Arabian Peninsula and Southeast Asia. Presently there are numerous regional Murtabak recipes. They all highly differ from one nation to another in both preparation and ingredients.

Murtabak Recipe In Details

This Murtabak recipe has two sub recipes that are the filling and the dough preparation. The first thing that we will be doing is preparing the dough as it will need a bit of rest, and then we will make the filling. Now let us have a look at the Murtabak recipe ingredients, and process.

Ingredients

  • Bread flour
  • Ghee
  • Water
  • 3 Eggs
  • Chicken
  • Onion
  • Fresh ginger
  • Fresh turmeric root
  • Curry powder
  • Cumin powder
  • Salt and pepper to taste

This recipe includes a preparation time of 40 minutes, a cooking time of 20 minutes, and the dough needs to rest for 2 hours. So the total time required to prepare this dish is 3 hours.

Process

For the dough

  • Add salt to the wheat flour and mix it well. 
  • Then add the liquid ingredients slowly beginning with ghee and ending with water. 
  • Then knead this dough. It will be easier for you if you knead this dough in a bowl. 
  • Ensure that your dough is in an elastic consistency. 
  • Now keep the dough aside for a couple of hours to rest. 

For the filling

  • Firstly chop the chives, onions, and garlic and sauté all these ingredients together in a pan. 
  • When they start to turn transparent, add the spices and the chickens to form a delicious stew. This requires less than 20 minutes to cook. 
  • Ensure that the stew is dry or else it will ruin your dough. 

Final Process

  • After two hours of resting, remove the dough from the container. Place it on a clean plain surface and knead the dough for a couple of times. 
  • Then divide the dough into 8 or 9 dough balls. Ensure that the size of the dough balls is equal.  
  • Now take a mixing bowl, make the filling and the eggs, and mix them well. 
  • Grease the flat surface with butter or ghee and also put some on your hands. 
  • Then take a dough ball and stretch out its edges and make space in the middle. 
  • Using a spoon, place the chicken mixture at the center of the dough gently. 
  • Now fold the edges of the dough carefully and form a square shape. 
  • Repeat the step with all other dough balls. 
  • Now heat a pan with ghee and cook the Murtabak in medium to low heat. Cook it until it turns light golden. 
  • Then serve it hot. 

Murtabak Recipe In Gist

Let us have a look at this recipe in short.

Tried This Recipe?

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Murtabak

The Murtabak recipe is for a delightful folded flatbread or roti that is stuffed with juicy flavorful chicken. This dish is extremely popular in Singapore and famous in Arab and Asian countries.

Cooking Time 

20 Minutes

Rest Time 

2 Hours

Preparation Time 

40 Minutes

Total Time

3 Hours

Course 

Starters/ Snacks

Cuisine

Middle Eastern

Serving: 5-6

INGREDIENTS

  • Bread flour

  • Ghee

  • Water

  • 3 Eggs

  • Chicken

  • Onion

  • Fresh ginger

  • Fresh turmeric root

  • Curry powder

  • Cumin powder

  • Salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Prepare the dough with ghee and water and keep it aside for 2 hours.

  • For the filling add chives, onions, and garlic in a pan and saute them Once done, add chicken and the spices and mix them well.

  • Next, take the dough from the bowl and knead for a few more minutes.

  • Take a bowl, add the chicken filling and eggs and mix them well.

  • Make dough balls and flatten their edges.

  • Now with a spoon add the fillings in the center and close the ends forming a square shape.

  • Heat ghee in a pan and cook these Murtabaks in medium to low heat until it turns light golden in color.

Conclusion

This amazing Murtabak recipe finds its roots in Arab that was later spread across Asia. This is a perfect street food and for snacks. Prepare this recipe at home and enjoy it will your evening tea or coffee.

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Donna Hussain

Everything that makes you lucrative about food and travel is the magic of Donna Hussain who has continued to influence us by her knowledgeable and quirky articles on travel, tour, and food.

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