🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
Mutabbaq
مطبق · muṭabbaq
A beloved Saudi street-food snack — paper-thin dough filled with spiced minced meat, egg and green onion, folded into a square and pan-fried crisp.
Serves makes ~6

Ingredients
- Dough
- ½ cup whole-wheat + 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder · salt · 4 tbsp oil · 1 small egg · ~½ cup water (rest oiled ≥2 hr)
- Filling
- 1 tbsp oil · 5 garlic · 1 onion · 500g ground meat
- ½ tsp chili · ¼ tsp turmeric · ½ tsp cumin · 1 tbsp coriander · ½ tsp pepper · salt · 1 tomato
- Stir into cooled filling
- 1 cup spring onions · 3 eggs · optional cheese
Method
- Make the dough and rest it, well-oiled, at least 2 hours.
- Brown the garlic, onion and meat with the spices about 10 minutes, add the tomato, and cool; then mix in the eggs, spring onions and optional cheese.
- Stretch each dough ball until translucent, place 2–3 tbsp filling in the center, and fold all four sides into a parcel.
- Pan-fry in a little oil about 4–5 minutes per side until browned and crisp. Cut into squares and serve hot with lemon.
The family table
Origin is shared — traders likely carried it from Yemen and India (a close cousin of murtabak across Southeast Asia). Saudi versions also come with cheese-and-spinach, zaatar, or sweet fillings.
Yumma
Middle Eastern home cooking, organized by country. Your family’s version is the one that counts. · info@yummarecipes.com