Brunei, You Make My Tummy Hurt in a Good Way
We now arrive in Southeast Asia in the country of Brunei. I must mention that we made a few detours on our way here. We detoured through Bouvet Island, British Ocean Indian Territory, and British Virgin Islands. We opted not to make pancake stops in any of these places because they are in fact territories of the United Kingdom. As such, everything we found for pancakes in these places were typically British pancakes. Hence, we made the decision to not include any places that are territories of other countries in our blog. Of course, if someone from one of these places has a pancake recipe that is unique to that region, we'll be happy to revisit them!
As a result of this decision, we are now in Brunei. We found quite a few Bruneian dishes that could qualify as pancakes, some more than others seemed to qualify. In the process we discovered some yummy looking savory dishes called martabak asin, which is a savory type of pancake thing. However, it looked to us more like a pastry with a savory meat filling in it. It looks fantastically yummy, but it didn't seem to fit what we think of as a pancake. Ultimately we decide to make a sweet version of martabak. Here are the ingredient for sweet Bruneian martabak:
While your yeast is sitting in the coconut milk, chop your peanuts and milk chocolate.
We did not use the whole block of milk chocolate that is pictured. We only used a small portion of it (probably somewhere between 200-300 grams).
After chopping the nuts and chocolate, mix your dry ingredients together to begin making the martabak.
Next make a well in the center of your dry ingredients, and put the eggs in the center.
Mix the eggs in (it will get sticky in one part, and the rest will be dry), and then add the coconut milk/yeast mixture. Whisk until you have a smooth, thick batter and all of the flour is incorporated.
Now set this batter aside in a warm place for 20-30 minutes. We cleaned the kitchen while we waited, but feel free to do whatever you want during the wait time. After the time is up, heat up a frying pan and melt some margarine in it. The original recipe says to use margarine, but we didn't have any. So we used butter instead. We attempted to make one using olive oil to fry as well, but it didn't taste very good, so we went back to the butter. Margarine would probably have been better if we had it since it doesn't brown a quickly as butter does. We used a wok style frying pan, but any frying pan should do.
Next ladle some of the batter into the frying pan. Since it is a thick batter, it will not spread out. We actually had to spread it out a little bit with the ladle.
Let it cook until it is dry around the edges, and almost completely dry on top, then flip it to cook the other side. These pancakes were very delicate, and it was tough to flip them without breaking up. I ended up using a two spatula approach to flipping them to insure they wouldn't break apart as I flipped them.
Cook until the other side is lightly browned. Remove from heat, and immediately spoon some sweetened condensed milk on top. Then sprinkle on some nuts and chocolate.
After putting on your toppings, fold the martabak in half.
Continue making martabak until all of the batter is used up. Make sure you wipe out the old butter from the pan before you melt new butter to make the next martabak. If you don't, you will end up with burnt butter tasting martabak. This recipe makes 5-6 martabak, depending upon how large you make them. These things were so good. I wanted to keep eating them, but my stomach said no more after I ate one. They are very rich, but in a deliciously satisfying way.
Mmmmmm . . . .
As a result of this decision, we are now in Brunei. We found quite a few Bruneian dishes that could qualify as pancakes, some more than others seemed to qualify. In the process we discovered some yummy looking savory dishes called martabak asin, which is a savory type of pancake thing. However, it looked to us more like a pastry with a savory meat filling in it. It looks fantastically yummy, but it didn't seem to fit what we think of as a pancake. Ultimately we decide to make a sweet version of martabak. Here are the ingredient for sweet Bruneian martabak:
- 250 gr flour
- 1 teaspoon yeast
- 150 gr white sugar
- 375 ml warm coconut milk
- 2 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Peanuts, roughly chopped
- Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Milk Chocolate, finely chopped (the recipe called for chocolate sprinkles, as in what you might see on doughnuts, but we opted for better quality chocolate instead)
While your yeast is sitting in the coconut milk, chop your peanuts and milk chocolate.
We did not use the whole block of milk chocolate that is pictured. We only used a small portion of it (probably somewhere between 200-300 grams).
After chopping the nuts and chocolate, mix your dry ingredients together to begin making the martabak.
Next make a well in the center of your dry ingredients, and put the eggs in the center.
Mix the eggs in (it will get sticky in one part, and the rest will be dry), and then add the coconut milk/yeast mixture. Whisk until you have a smooth, thick batter and all of the flour is incorporated.
Now set this batter aside in a warm place for 20-30 minutes. We cleaned the kitchen while we waited, but feel free to do whatever you want during the wait time. After the time is up, heat up a frying pan and melt some margarine in it. The original recipe says to use margarine, but we didn't have any. So we used butter instead. We attempted to make one using olive oil to fry as well, but it didn't taste very good, so we went back to the butter. Margarine would probably have been better if we had it since it doesn't brown a quickly as butter does. We used a wok style frying pan, but any frying pan should do.
Next ladle some of the batter into the frying pan. Since it is a thick batter, it will not spread out. We actually had to spread it out a little bit with the ladle.
Let it cook until it is dry around the edges, and almost completely dry on top, then flip it to cook the other side. These pancakes were very delicate, and it was tough to flip them without breaking up. I ended up using a two spatula approach to flipping them to insure they wouldn't break apart as I flipped them.
Cook until the other side is lightly browned. Remove from heat, and immediately spoon some sweetened condensed milk on top. Then sprinkle on some nuts and chocolate.
After putting on your toppings, fold the martabak in half.
Continue making martabak until all of the batter is used up. Make sure you wipe out the old butter from the pan before you melt new butter to make the next martabak. If you don't, you will end up with burnt butter tasting martabak. This recipe makes 5-6 martabak, depending upon how large you make them. These things were so good. I wanted to keep eating them, but my stomach said no more after I ate one. They are very rich, but in a deliciously satisfying way.
Mmmmmm . . . .
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