Encounter with Martabak Manis

I have been eating "martabak manis" (sweet thick pancake) since my childhood time. Martabak manis is a snack favored by many Indonesians. It is a sweet pancake made from flour, egg, coconut milk, sugar, yeast and baking soda topped with you choices of chocolate sprinkles, shredded cheddar cheese, corned beef, sweet kernel corn, jackfruit slices, banana slices, etc. The martabak is crisp around the edges, the flesh texture was soft and moist, almost cake like. It comes in the the size of a medium pizza pan.
My favorite is Martabak Manis with jackfruit and grated cheddar cheese fillings. They first smother it with butter and than it is filled with the filling of your choice. Then they cut the pancake in half and close the pancake on top of each other. It's so delicious and rich dessert..truly a heavenly delight. For one whole plate it only costs me about Rp. 30,000 or USD 3.40 and that can be cut up to 14 pieces. Enough for 3 to 4 people to enjoy! Oh yes, martabak are made for to-go orders only. Normally people buy 1 whole plate and share them with the family at home.


Here is the recipe for Belle :

Ingredients:
250 gram all purpose flour
1 tsp. instant yeast
150 gram granulated sugar
375 cc warm coconut milk
2 eggs
¼ tsp. baking soda

Filling Ingredients:
Grated fried nuts
Sesame seeds
Granulated Sugar
Chocolate Sprinkler
Grated Cheddar Cheese
Condensed Milk

Instructions:
Pour in the yeast into the warm coconut milk, stir until well mixed and foamed up, set aside.
Mix flour and sugar, then pour in the eggs in the middle of the batter. Keep stirring the mixture until all ingredients are well dissolved. Then put in the baking soda and stir the mixture again until well mixed. Set it aside in a room temperature for approximately 15-20 minutes.
Heat up the non-stick pan that has been smeared with butter/margarine. Pour the mixture in and let it cook until the surface dried up and the outer layer become crispy brown.
Remove the thick crepe and put on a cutting board.
Pour granulated sugar on the crepes as well as the condensed milk. Up to your liking, you can pour grated cheese, grated fried nuts, chocolate sprinkler or sesame seeds on the crepe. You can also combine the filling.
Fold the crepe in to two then cut the crepe into 10-12 pieces.
Makes 10-12 pieces



Notes : you can go creative with the toppings. Use slice banana, jackfruits for example. The pics here were taken at the "Martabak Air Mancur" stall in Bogor. I do not believe I can make a perfect martabak manis like this myself...