A traditional Saudi dish is shown here and it’s called motabag (pronounced “mut-thuh-bug”). I’m not sure of the spelling. It starts out as a large very piece of thin filo-type dough. The filling can be practically anything from cheese, to egg, to tuna, to ground beef, etc., which is spread over the center of the dough in a thin layer. Each side is folded over on top of the filling mixture and then it is lightly fried on both sides to a golden brown. It is usually cut into small triangle shapes. Motabag is good for any meal or as a snack.
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I remember the first day I came back home for vacation. Motabag was the first om to “eat” list!
I try to always have some in the house – it’s quick, easy to reheat, and delicious!
This is the first time I’ve seen it cut into triangles, but the competition is high in the food market, so I guess they have to differentiate their products 🙂
Mutabag, literally means folded, in the Chinese Malay restaurants they have a similar dish called murtabak. I think it was taken there with the trade routes… but I am not sure about that.
My favorite is that made with bananas 🙂
Lately a new “trendy” restaurant called Crunchy Square has put a twist on it, haven’t been there, but I heard it was good… yet the classic is better 🙂
Thanks, Qusay. There’s a great little place not too far from where we live that offers all kinds of mutabag. It’s right on the Flower Circle (Zahra) and it’s called Al-Hashawaty. I like the size of the cut up triangles – they are easy to handle. And we reheat the leftovers in the toaster oven – they heat up in a couple of minutes because they’re so thin – and they’re just as good as when they’re fresh.
This is what we had with dinner today – really delicious! We had the one with egg filling… and something green but not sure what, lol!
I really like it – I don’t think I’ve had a kind that I didn’t like – and I’ve tried quite a few!