Martabak Manis (Sweet Indonesian Pancake)

Name: Martabak Manis (Sweet Indonesian Pancake)
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Indonesian
Ingredients: 250 g Plain flour; 60 g Sugar; 1 tsp Instant yeast; 1/2 tsp Baking soda; 2 Eggs; 400 ml Water or milk, lukewarm; 1/2 tsp Salt; 80 g Butter, softened; 6 tbsp Sweetened condensed milk; 100 g Roasted peanuts, crushed; 80 g Chocolate sprinkles (meses)

A thick, honeycombed pancake split and loaded with butter, condensed milk, crushed peanuts and chocolate sprinkles, then folded shut — Indonesia's late-night indulgence.

Source

Recipe by Indonesian home kitchens · 🏺 Traditional · Indonesian household cooking

Traditional street dessert · Indonesia — A dish with no single author. The cited article distinguishes martabak manis (also called terang bulan) from the savoury egg-filled martabak telur, describing its yeast-and-baking-soda batter, its crumpet-like texture, and a filling of butter or margarine, sugar, crushed peanuts, chocolate sprinkles or cheese before being folded in half. The steps here are our own writing, not a reproduction.

Background on Wikipedia ↗

Watch it being made · 3 videos

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⏱ 90 min🍽 8 servings🔥 520 kcal🇮🇩 Indonesia

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Steps

Whisk the flour, sugar, yeast and salt together, then beat in the eggs and lukewarm water until you have a smooth, thin batter — about the consistency of single cream.
Cover and leave it somewhere warm for an hour, until the surface is covered in bubbles.
💡 This wait is not optional. Skip it and you get a flat, dense pancake instead of the open honeycomb the whole dish depends on.
Stir the baking soda through the rested batter and let it stand for 5 minutes.
Heat a heavy, straight-sided pan about 22 cm across over medium-low heat. Pour in enough batter to come 2 cm up the side.
💡 Medium-low, and be patient. Too high and the base is black before the middle has set; the pancake needs a long, gentle heat to rise all the way through.
Watch the surface: bubbles will rise and burst, leaving open holes. When the whole top is holed and no longer wet-looking, sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over it.
💡 Those holes are the whole point — they are what the butter and condensed milk soak into. If the top sets smooth, the batter was either not rested enough or the pan was too hot.
Cover the pan and cook another 3–4 minutes until the centre is set and the base is deep brown.
Slide it out onto a board and spread the softened butter over the hot surface so it melts into the holes.
Scatter over the peanuts and chocolate sprinkles, then drizzle the condensed milk across the lot.
Fold it in half, press gently, and cut into thick fingers. Eat it warm.

💡 Tips

A non-stick pan with straight sides makes this far easier than a sloped frying pan — you want a thick disc, not a crêpe.
If the first one comes out dense, let the batter rest another 20 minutes before trying again. Batter improves while it waits.
Contains peanuts and dairy — worth mentioning if you are handing it around.