My Newest Vice

For those of you who are not on Facebook, I must tell you that I have discovered a new vice. It's called martabak manis. And believe me, it tastes much better than it sounds! In fact, it is quite decadent.

batter goes into hot skillet

After having dinner with some Fulbright ETAs the other night, they wanted to treat us to martabak for dessert. I had promised myself I would never eat from one of these little rolling food carts that dot every street in Bandung. In fact, we had been advised against it. But I believed these girls when they said it was chocolate and yummy. So even though Ronnie was anxious to get back to the apartment, I talked him into going with them "just for the experience of it." Turns out that crossing the street was way more dangerous than eating from the cart, but we all made it by staying together and deciding when to "GO!" These Fulbrighters had been staying at the Sheraton for intensive training for 2 weeks and in that time had become "regulars" there so we let them do the choosing and talking, which was a good thing since we had no idea what it was anyway and couldn't have ordered it if we'd wanted to.

butter or margarine, chocolate sprinkles, sugar crystals, then the nuts

Basically the one we had just had butter (or margarine) finely chopped nuts and sugar crystals sprinkled across the top. When it was folded, the chocolate sprinkles melted. Normally it would have evaporated milk drizzled over that, but the girls asked him to leave it off. They paid (about $1.50 US) and we walked back to the Sheraton where we split the warm cake 5 ways and still had some left over. We will go back, for sure, but need to be sure we don't make a habit of it!

 

tossing like pizza dough, only thinner and more crepe like

 one with filling fried in wok-like pan

We also watched him make another one (pictured above) that was not a dessert but more along the lines of what we might call a "hot pocket." There were lots of different kinds on the menu. I have also learned that cheese is a common ingredient in the martabak manis. My landlady says it is "very delicious." I'm not so sure about that - I'm sticking to chocolate and nuts!

this one filled with meat/veggie mixture

and now I'm craving a warm martabak manis!

CORRECTION: I have recently learned that this particular type of martabak is called a terang bulan. Here's a recipe should anyone want to try making one at home.

http://www.melroseflowers.com/mkic/indo_recipes/desserts/sweet_thick_crepes.htm