Martabak Telor (Fried Stuffed Flat Lumpia with Ground Beef and Egg)

It’s that time of the day that I feel like munching some comfort foods where it is delicious, yet a bit filling and packed with protein and other nutrition. Most importantly, it is a snack where I won’t feel bad stuffing in afterwards. My definition of comfort food would be something delicious AND not too sweet. Yeah, you read it right, not t-o-o s-w-e-e-t. I’m not a big fan of sweet stuff. I’m more into the savory goodies. So, what a better time to make a simple Indonesian snack – to me, it’s a snack, hehehe… – called Martabak Telor.

Martabak Telor is one of the most popular Indonesian street foods, and I kid you not, there are actually two types of Martabak in Indonesia. The sweet one for people who have sweet tooth and the savory one for people like me. You can think of it as a stuffed pancake or something similar like a stuffed-wrapped crepe. The savory Martabak usually has minced meat and egg – hence more people called it Martabak Telor (Telor means egg). Nowadays, I heard that there are some stalls that sold vegetarian version in Indonesia.

You can actually find the savory Martabak in other countries such as, Malaysia, Singapore, India, and many more, even in Saudi Arabia. The Martabak has slightly different unique taste in each of those countries. In Indonesia, most egg Martabak has thin fried dough (which, in this recipe, I use spring roll wrapper instead to save time) and is seasoned with any kinds of ground meat (beef, chicken or mutton), lots of sliced green onions, and beaten eggs – many will use duck eggs. It is usually served with acar or pickled vegetables – most commonly there is cucumber, carrot, shallots and chillies soaked in sweetened vinegar, as you can see in the picture.

Wow, talking about Martabak Telor in details made my tummy rumbles already. Let’s get cooking now, shall we?

Tip: You can replace the spring roll sheet with rice paper that had been soaked in water.

Ingredient:

• 10 sheet spring roll wrappers
• 3/4 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 4 stalks of green onion, chopped
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Vegetable or Canola oil for deep frying
• Salt and pepper (about a pinch each)

Directions:

• Separate the chopped onion into 2 portions
• Heat olive oil in a pan under medium heat. Add garlic, shallot, ½ portion of onion and stir fry until it is golden brown
• Add ground beef, curry powder, coriander powder, salt and pepper. Stir well until everything is cooked.
• In a separate big bowl, beat the eggs with a fork
• Add chopped green onion, the remaining portion of the onion and the cooked beef to the beaten egg.
• Spread one lumpia wrapper out on a flat surface.
• Scoop a spoon of meat/egg mixture and place it in the middle of the rice paper. Fold it to enclose the meat mixture so that it create a rectangular shape like an envelope
• Repeat it until all the meat mixture is all gone. You should have about 8-10 egg martabaks (depending on how much of the meat mixture you put)
• Preheat oil in flat pan
• Fry the egg martabak until it is golden brown