Martabak Telor is a supremely delicious snack of Arab-Indian origins. Think paper-thin pastry meets omelette and there you have martabak telor.
I was lucky enough to watch the process at Zakir’s in Aceh, step-by-step.
First the dough is rolled out until paper-thin, like filo pastry, folded over, envelope-style and thrown onto a sizzling hot-plate. It immediately puffs and bubbles. In thIs case he made four small parcels.
Eggs are then whisked with red shallots, garlic and chives and poured over the pastry squares. The skill is to keep the mixture contained around the pastry envelopes, by scooping it up and keeping it in a square shape.
The pastry is now completely covered by the egg, so in this case the egg is on top, not inside the pastry.
To keep it from burning and to help create a golden brown finish with a teeny bit of crunch, chunks of Blue Band margarine are added every few minutes. It is folded again and turned.
The result is a slab of thick omelette with a hint of pastry in between, rather like a quiche or egg pancake. It is best eaten hot with sambal and acar.Enak!
