Spicy Lamb Murtabak #BreadBakers

Spicy lamb murtabak starts with a soft dough stretched super thin, then filled with seasoned ground lamb and cooked till crispy and golden. Start a day ahead to allow time for the dough to rest overnight in the fridge.

This month’s Bread Bakers theme is Indian flatbreads, one of my favorite things to make and eat. If you’ve been reading here a while, you might have seen my spicy onion parathas, keema naan and spicy loli - a breakfast flatbread! - just three that I have shared over the years.

For this post I wanted to challenge myself to a flatbread I ate often in my teenage years in southeast Asia. According to Wikipedia, murtabak was first created by Overseas Indians, primarily Muslims from Tamil Nadu. It’s common street food in Singapore, where I first enjoyed it, as well as Malaysia and Indonesia. The name comes from the word mutabbaq , which means "folded" in Arabic. That will make perfect sense when you see how they are made.

Spicy Lamb Murtabak

If lamb isn’t your thing, substitute another ground protein. Although it’s not traditional, you can even use firm, pressed tofu that has been crumbled, to make these vegetarian friendly. Also vegetarian friendly, and more traditional, murtabak can be cooked with the egg alone. In that case, add a little chopped onion, green onion, cilantro and chili pepper to the egg. To clarify the ingredients list below: To measure the water needed, put your egg white in a measuring vessel. Add water to the 3/4 cup or 180ml mark.

Ingredients to make 4 spicy lamb murtabak
For the dough:
2 1/3 cups or 300g bread flour
1 egg white, at room temperature
Room temperature water to make 3/4 cup or 180ml when measured with the egg white
5 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons canola or other light oil - for resting time

For the filling:
Small bunch green onions
Small bunch fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon canola or other light oil
1 1/2 teaspoons hot curry powder (I use Malaysian brand Baba but any will work)
12 oz or 340g ground lamb
1 small purple onion, chopped finely
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

To assemble:
4 eggs
extra oil

Method
In a standing mixer bowl, add in flour, egg, melted butter, salt, sugar and water. Use the bread hook to mix together and then knead for 10 minutes. Leave the dough to rest in the bowl for 10 minutes and then knead for another 5 minutes.

On a greased cutting board, divide the dough into 4 pieces. Form into balls.

Pour the 2 tablespoon of oil into a lidded container and coat each ball generously with the oil and place them in the container. Cover the container tightly and keep in the fridge overnight. If you think about it, turn the dough balls every once in a while to keep them well coated in oil.

Meanwhile, make your filling.

Cut the tough parts of the stems off of the cilantro and discard. Roughly chop the rest. Remove the white parts of the green onions and chop the green parts in circles.

(Tip: If your white parts have little roots, you can put them in a glass with a couple of inches of water and put the glass on a sunny windowsill. The roots will grow longer and the green parts will grow up again, ready to snip off and use again.)

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium high heat. Put in the curry powder and give it a quick stir. Immediately add the lamb and onion and cook till the lamb is browned, breaking it up into bits as it cooks.

Sprinkle on the cayenne, salt and sugar, along with the chopped cilantro and green onion tops.

Stir well and remove the filling from the heat. Divide into four little piles and leave to cool.

When you are ready to panfry the murtabak, spread some of the oil that the dough balls rested in on your clean work surface. Take one ball and lightly flatten it. Press and push the dough with the heel of your palm to make it bigger. Stretch it quite thin, until it’s about 16 x 16 inches or 40 x 40cm, occasionally spreading some more oil on it to help the stretching. You can also lift up each edge of the dough and gently pull to stretch it even more. I thought this would be hard but it was actually quite easy!

Here’s a video I found extremely useful that shows what I mean: Murtabak by El Mundo Eats

You can see my marble through the dough. That’s how thin you want it!

Add 1/4 of the cooled lamb filling to the middle of your stretched dough, along with one lightly beaten egg.

Fold in edges of dough into center, making a package about 5 x 5 inches or 13 x 13cm.

Use an oiled spatula to very carefully transfer the murtabak to your greased frying pan.

Cook the murtabak over low heat for about 6-7 minutes on each side, pressing it down gently with the spatula. A low heat is essential to make sure the layers of dough are cooked before the outer layer gets too dark.

The dough should be cooked through with lovely brown and golden bits all over. Repeat with remaining eggs, lamb mixture and dough.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month’s Bread Bakers host, Renu of Cook with Renu for the fun theme and all of her behind the scenes work.

• Aloo Paratha from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Bedmi Paratha from Ambrosia
• Gobi Paratha by Nam's Corner
• Hyderabadi Parathas from Sneha's Recipe
• Masala Paratha from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Roti from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pathiri - Gluten Free Rice Bread from The Schizo Chef
• Puran Poli from A Messy Kitchen
• Spicy Lamb Murtabak from Food Lust People Love
• Stuffed Bajra Paratha from Cook with Renu

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here.  Links are also updated after each event on the BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Kate's Perfect Plum Pie #BakingBloggers

Made with ripe plums and a flaky crust, Kate’s perfect plum pie is one of many special recipes we’ve enjoyed from Kate McDermott’s wonderful book, Art of the Pie. I share it here with the author’s permission. The combination of sweet plummy filling and buttery crust will be a hit at your holiday table.

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to review Art of the Pie, a beautiful cookbook full of pie recipes, of course, but Kate also shares her wisdom about life. As I said in that review, pie is one of those things that seem to divide the baking world. Some of us get it, some of us don’t. Fortunately, Art of the Pie is for all of us.

Experienced pie bakers will love the creative recipes. But starting from the (17-page!) introduction, Kate’s rules for pie making and life are the calm and knowledgeable words of a wise woman. Her instructions regarding measuring ingredients and the equipment you’ll need are thorough. I’m pretty sure even a nervous pie maker would relax at Kate’s reassuring “you got this” tone.

I love the stories that are interspersed between the recipes, especially the one that introduces A Berry Pie for Julia, about Kate’s afternoon with Julia Child. By the time I closed the book – yes, I read cookbooks all the way through like novels – I felt I knew Kate as a friend. A friend who was going to show me how to improve my own pies and keep everything chill, especially myself.

Here’s the crazy part about our small digital world and social media. Since then, Kate and I have been friends on Facebook. When I wrote her a private message recently to ask if I could share this recipe for our Baking Bloggers pie event, she was delighted to say yes. And I was thrilled when she told me that a companion volume to Art of the Pie will be coming out in October 2020. More delicious pie! I cannot wait!

Kate’s Perfect Plum Pie

As Kate says, flaky crust cannot be rushed, so take your time and enjoy the process. If you don’t have plums, other stone fruit can be substituted.

Ingredients
For the dough:
2 1/2 cups or 312g all-purpose flour, unbleached, plus extra for rolling out
1/2 cup or 113g cold butter, butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
1/2 cup or 113g vegetable shortening
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 120ml ice water, plus 1-2 tablespoons or 15-30ml more as needed

For the plum filling:
2 lbs or 900g plums, pitted and quartered
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
1/3 cup or 42g flour
1-2 tablespoons or 15-30g Cointreau or other orange liqueur (optional)
1 tablespoon or 12g quick-cooking tapioca
1/3 teaspoon salt
A small grating of nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons butter

For the egg wash:
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

For decoration:
1-2 teaspoons or 4-8g sugar, for sprinkling on top of pie

Method
To make the pie crust, put all the flour, butter, shortening and salt in a large bowl. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter and shortening into the flour until it looks like crumbs with some lumps the size of peas or even almonds.

Sprinkle the ice water over the mixture a tablespoon or two at a time, stirring it in lightly with a fork.

Squeeze a handful of dough to see if it holds together. If not, sprinkle in a little more ice water. Divide the dough into two pieces. Form them into discs about 5 inches or 12cm across. Wrap them in cling film and put them to chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Meanwhile, make your plum filling. Pit and quarter the plums.

Put them in a large bowl with the sugar, flour, Cointreau, tapioca, salt and nutmeg. Mix well, making sure the fruit is well coated with the other ingredients.

When chilling time is up, preheat your oven to 425°F or 220°C.

Take the dough discs out of the refrigerator. They will be quite stiff so leave them to warm up slightly, until they feel slightly soft to the touch. This will make them easier to roll out.

Sprinkle your clean work surface with flour. Pop your dough disk in the middle, and with a lightly floured rolling pin, give it a couple of good thumps on one side. Turn the disc over and repeat, sprinkling it with a little more flour. I’m not sure what exactly this is supposed to do besides spreading the dough out just a bit, but the thumping is very satisfying to do.

Roll the pastry into a circle 1⁄8 inch thick and about 2 inches larger all around than pie plate, always rolling from the middle to the outer edge.

Brush off any excess flour and use your rolling pin to transfer the bottom crust to the pie plate. Kate says you can fix any holes by wetting the crust with a little water and patching the hole with a piece of dough.

Pour your filling into the crust and add bits of the butter to the top.

Roll out the second disc of dough and lay it gently on top of the fruit. Use a sharp knife to cut a few slits in the top to allow steam to escape while baking. Trim the excess dough and crimp the edges. This is decorative and functional. Crimping makes sure the two crusts are stuck together.

Lightly whisk the egg and water with a fork to make the egg wash. Use a pastry brush to paint the top of the pie and crimped edges. Sprinkle with the sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes in your preheated oven then turn the temperature down to 350°F or 180°C. Continue to bake for 30-35 minutes more.

The filling should be bubbling at a steady pace by now. We need it to bubble so the tapioca will set the filling. If it’s not bubbling, turn the oven back up to 450°F or 230°C for 5 minutes, covering the pie loosely first with foil if it’s already quite brown.

Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving. The longer you can wait, the more likely the filling will set, so don’t rush to cut the pie.

But when you do, enjoy! (Yeah, I could have waited longer but PIE! Amiright?)

It's pie baking season! Check out all the lovely pies my fellow Baking Bloggers are sharing today. Many thanks to our fearless leader and host today, Sue from Palatable Pastimes for her behind the scenes work.

• Amazing Apple Pie by Simply Inspired Meals
• Blueberry Mini Pies by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Butternut & Apple Galette by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Chicken and Spinach Quiche by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate Cream Pie by Making Miracles
• Kate's Perfect Plum Pie by Food Lust People Love
• Lemon Meringue Tart by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Mixed Vegetable Pie With Shortcrust Pastry by Recipe Pocket
• Pear Ginger Pie by Cookaholic Wife
• Pecan Streusel Pumpkin Pie by Palatable Pastime
• Sour Cream Pear Pie by Pandemonium Noshery
• Spinach and Chicken Quiche by Sneha's Recipe

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

Note: The link to the cookbook is an Amazon affiliate link. Your price remains the same but I get a few pennies if you buy Kate’s book after clicking on my link.

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Beef Fajita Nachos Compuestos #FoodieExtravaganza

Crunchy fried tortilla triangles topped with refried beans, fajita beef, cheese and jalapeños, these beef fajita nachos compuestos can also be made with store-bought chips.

Before we get going here, let’s familiarize ourselves with what nacho compuesto means. A basic nacho is a tortilla chip with cheese melted on top and a slice of jalapeño. Simple to make, so easy to eat. Compuesto means compound, so: things that are put together to create a different thing. It is a deliberate act, not a hodge podge of ingredients that may or may not go together. Those ingredients become something else. Like a chemical compound.

A proper nacho compuesto is a singular item. It should not be crowded or otherwise cramped unduly by its neighboring nachos. It sits nicely with them on the hot plate but can be picked up without disturbing, nay, even touching a neighbor.

That said, I am a complete fan of the sheet pan method of nacho making, but even then, I make sure that every chip gets some topping. Those restaurants that serve a big pile of chips heaped with toppings should have their nacho license revoked. No one wants the chips underneath so they are thrown away. What a waste.

When I was growing up in Houston, Texas, a plate of nachos compuestos was often my go-to order at any Mexican restaurant. They have many of the ingredients in a taco, in a much easier to eat format. Usually made with ground beef, the nachos compuestos of my youth were also topped with refried beans and cheese with a slice of jalapeño. Sometimes there were chopped tomatoes and onions or even salsa added after the nachos were cooked.

Today, I am hosting an event for my Foodie Extravaganza friends in honor of National Nacho Day. I’ve upped the ante on nachos compuestos by making them with fajita meat instead of ground beef. Make sure you scroll down to see the other creative nacho recipes the group is sharing.

Beef Fajita Nachos Compuestos

This recipe can also be a main course, as it was for me years ago. You can totally add some shredded lettuce if it makes you feel better about making this a full meal.

Ingredients
For the nachos:
1 lb or 450g trimmed skirt steak (weight after trimming of fat and sinew)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons taco seasonings
1 teaspoon meat tenderizer (Ajinomoto)
freshly ground black pepper
24 corn or corn/flour tortilla chips (or fry your own!)
1 can (16oz or 454g) refried beans
4 oz or 113g extra sharp cheddar
2 whole jalapeños, fresh or pickled

For the pico de gallo:
1/2 small onion, chopped finely
2 fresh jalapeños
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 roma tomatoes
Pinch fine sea salt
Pinch sugar
A few grinds black pepper

Method
Sprinkle the beef with the lime juice, taco spices and tenderizer, along with a few generous grinds of black pepper. Rub the seasonings all over. Use a meat mallet to pound the skirt steak.

Make sure you season and pound on both sides. This helps break down any tough bits and works the seasonings into the beef. If it’s all about the same thickness, it also cooks more evenly.

Place the beef in a Ziploc bag or reusable plastic container. Refrigerate until ready to use, but preferably at least one hour.

To make the pico de gallo, chop the onion and jalapeño finely. Put them in a bowl and sprinkle on the lime juice, salt, sugar and pepper. Chop your tomatoes in small cubes and mince the stems of the cilantro. Chop the cilantro leaves roughly. Mix the tomato and cilantro into the onions and jalapeño. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Slice the jalapeños for the nachos in rounds. Set aside.

At this point, I cut six corn and flour tortillas (called mitad y mitad here in Houston, they are made with both corn and flour) in quarters and fried them until golden in a little canola oil. If you are doing the same, make sure you drain them well on a layer of paper towels with a wire rack or newspaper underneath. Otherwise, store-bought chips will work.

Meanwhile, open the can of beans and give them a good stir to loosen them up.

To cook the fajita beef, heat a grill pan or frying pan over a high heat. Once it’s hot, place the pounded beef on it, a piece or two at a time, making sure not to crowd the pan. We want this beef to sear and sizzle, not steam. When a nice brown crust forms on the bottom, turn the beef to the other side and leave it to brown as well.

Repeat until all of the beef is browned on both sides. I like to turn it to make some lovely crisscross grill marks. Remove the pieces of beef to a carving board as they are ready.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Lay the fried tortilla chips out on a large baking pan, in single file, making sure no points overlap.  I saved a space in the middle of my platter, leaving room for the pico de gallo in the middle. I have two identical platters so I split my two dozen putting 12 tortilla chips on each.

Spread a generous spoonful of refried beans on each tortilla.

Slice the fajita beef against the grain.

Top the chips with a couple of pieces of fajita meat on top of the beans. Next comes the grated cheese and finally, add a slice of jalapeño to each nacho.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until the meat and beans are heated through and the cheese has melted.

Serve with the pico de gallo and some sliced avocado, if desired.

Enjoy!

Check out all the other tasty nachos we are sharing today! How are you celebrating National Nachos Day? 

• Beef Fajita Nachos Compuestos from Food Lust People Love
• Beer Brat Nachos from Palatable Pastime
• Breakfast Nachos from Tara's Multicultural Table
• Chorizo Nachos from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Garam Masala Lamb Naan-chos from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Homemade Deep Fried Nachos With Cheese Sauce from Sneha's Recipe
• Leftover Turkey Nachos with Cranberry Salsa from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pizza Nachos from Making Miracles

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

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