Martabak Manis: Indonesian Sweet Thick Pancake Recipe - So Yummy Recipes (2024)

Martabak Manis

Martabak Manis is a very thick, sweet pancake with a sweet, chocolatey, and nutty filling. It has a squishy, buttery texture.

It is the Indonesian version of sweet and thick pancakes with various fillings. The most sought-after one is the one with chocolate and peanut filling. It has a fluffy and chewy texture with a rich, buttery, and sweet flavor.

This sweet street food was introduced by Arab traders and is very popular in the Arab peninsula and Southeast Asian countries such as Yemen, Saudi Arabia, India, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. The food is called Murtabak – from the word Mutabbaq, which means folding.

Interestingly, in Malaysia, it is called Apam Balik, Apam Pinang, or Apong, while in Singapore, it is called peanut pancakes or Min Jiang Kueh.

Whatever word you call it, I can assure you that this thick, squishy, buttery, sweet pancake is one street food you would like to try. It’s just deliciously moreish.

Not as Easy as a Pancake

Anyway, I’m sharing the recipe for the Indonesian sweet Martabak.

Although you might think that making this sweet, thick pancake is easy, it is not as easy as making ordinary pancakes, such as American or English pancakes.

Making this Martabak Manis can be tricky.

Because of its thickness, it can be difficult to get the pancake to rise properly without burning the bottom. This is simply due to the equipment we use.

You see, the Martabak sellers in Indonesia use a special pan that is a very heavy-bottom cast-iron pan. So, the heat distribution to the pancake is pretty stable and even.

And I only have a regular non-stick pan at home. Though it claims to be a heavy-bottom pan, I don’t think its thickness matches the pan that those Martabak sellers have.

So, my early attempts at making it mostly ended up either burning at the bottom of the pancake or the hard-chewy texture of the pancake.

After countless trials and feeling unsatisfactory, I finally found the recipe I will happily make again and again.

This recipe gives Martabak the right fluffiness and texture, making it not only soft but also a bit elastically chewy.

Key Ingredients

Like other types of pancakes, Martabak requires flour, eggs, and raising agents. However, instead of milk, you only need water to mix and emulsify everything.

But you need a little bit of tapioca flour to give the pancake elasticity and chewiness.

The Toppings Variety

Traditionally, Indonesians put plenty of butter, chocolate sprinkles, chopped peanuts, and generous drizzles of condensed milk as the fillings.

However, you can put all sorts of filling varieties for Martabak Manis.

Here are some of the combos that you may want to try. I promise you they’re all such a delight to have.

1. Chopped peanuts, chocolate (chips or sprinkles), and condensed milk.
2. Banana slices, chocolate, and condensed milk.
3. Banana slices, grated cheddar cheese, and condensed milk.
4. Chocolate spread, grated cheddar cheese, and condensed milk.
5. Chocolate (chips or sprinkles) and condensed milk.
6. Peanut butter and chocolate spread.
7. Peanut butter and jam/jelly.

How to Make the Batter

Just like making any pancake, firstly, you mix all the ingredients except raising agents into a smooth batter. You can use a hand whisk, handheld blender, hand mixer, or stand mixer to blend your mixture well.

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Then, using a big spoon, keep mixing and stirring for about five minutes to help the gluten in the flour develop better.

When you finish mixing the mixture, let it rest for at least one hour. I often do it for almost two hours. Once, I stretched it nearly three hours just because I was too busy to attend to the batter, and it worked just fine.

While you wait for your flour mixture to rest, you can get your toppings/ fillings ready.

This recipe makes enough to make 2 x 20 cm/ 7.87-inch pancakes or 3 pancakes of 15 cm/5.9-inch diameter.

How to Cook Martabak Using an Ordinary Frying Pan

Once your batter is ready to cook, divide the batter into equal portions of the pancake sizes you want. And get your frying pan and its lid ready accordingly.

Then, heat your frying pan at moderate-low heat using the smallest ring of stove fire/ cooker. At the same time, mix ¼ teaspoon of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon of baking soda with 1 tablespoon of water. Quickly but carefully stir this raising agent mixture into one portion of the batter.

Check your pan with a drop of water. If the water evaporates fast, pour your pancake mixture into the pan. Slowly rotate the pan so the edges are covered halfway with the batter. Then, let it cook at moderate-high heat. Rotate the pan every now and again to ensure it gets heated evenly.

When the pancake surface is fully covered with bubbles and more than halfway cooked, sprinkle one teaspoon of sugar over it.

Then, put the lid back on before turning the heat down.

Again, you must keep rotating the pan so the heat won’t be concentrated in one place.

It takes me about a few minutes until my thick pancake is fully cooked and ready.

Using a spatula, tease the edge of your Martabak and take it off the pan.

Fill Your Martabak

Place your Martabak on a chopping board.

Then spread generous butter on it and put any toppings that you like.

I mostly use chopped roasted peanuts, chopped milk chocolate, and plenty of condensed milk drizzles.

Once you are happy with your toppings, cut the pancake in the middle and carefully fold it into a half-circle. Again, spread a generous butter on both sides of your folded thick pancake. Last but not least, cut it into small pieces. Mine gives about 5 portions.

Enjoy your Martabak Manis with your cup of tea or coffee.

Top tips for making softly squishy Martabak

• Once your batter is smooth, you want to keep working on it by mixing and stirring it using a big spoon. It takes me about 5-7 minutes to do this. But please don’t skip this. This helps the batter develop gluten better and will work nicely with the raising agent. So your Martabak will have hundreds of bubbles and a fluffy yet elastically soft and chewy texture.
• This resting period is needed for the gluten to develop. So don’t miss this out.
• Ideally, you use a heavy-bottom pan, but you can also use a non-stick pan like mine. Ensure you don’t overheat the pan before cooking, and keep turning the heat up and down as you cook your pancake.
• Keep moving and rotating your pan around the heat as you turn the heat higher and lower. You want to make sure the pan is not overheated and has enough heat for the rising agents in the batter to react. Never leave the pancake unattended. Otherwise, your pancake won’t rise evenly high and be evenly cooked.

More Sweet Street Food Recipes

If you want more ideas for Indonesian sweet street food recipes, you can check out Bubur Kacang Hijau – Indonesian mung bean dessert, Crispy and fluffy Potato Donuts, Serabi Kuah, Kolak Biji Salak, Klepon, or Gemblong.

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you’re now intrigued to try this Martabak Manis recipe. I’ve tried many times and had many failures. So I truly hope you won’t fail and will succeed right from the first try.

It would be great if you share what you think about the recipe in the comments below.

Last but not least, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram and/or Pinterest to see what’s cooking in my kitchen.

Take care and all the best.