Mara Murdumurdu (Hand Flatbread)
Introduction
Mara murdumurdu mai is a unique style of johnnycake flatbread made from whole grain flour. The name mara murdumurdu translates as ‘hand bread’, ‘mara’ hand and murdumurdu ‘bread’ because the johnnycake is the size of your hand and is held like a taco in your hand when you eat it.
The murdumurdu is made by mixing boiling hot water and wholegrain flour together to create a soft dough. The dough is rolled flat with an unique rolling pin called wirri mai that is purposely designed for making the maramurdumurdu. The flatten dough is embossed with an unique zigzag design with the handle of the wirri mai. The maramurdumurdu is cut to size in a circle shape with the kurruru mai. The johnny cake is cooked on a flat hot cooking surface on each side. The maramurdumurdu is finally filled with a regional selection of mai vegetable food and pardu meat. Finally it is served and eaten!
Ingredients
Murdumurdu Whole meal wheat flour 1 cup
Murdumurdu White wheat flour 1 cup
Kauwi water 2 cups
Equipment
Kampa kurru Saucepan
Kurru Bowl
Kurruru mai Circle 15cm biscuit cutter
Wirri mai rolling pin
Tarralyi Kitchen Bench or chopping board
Tadli tadli frying pan
Recipe
Serves 2 people
How do you to make mara murdumurdu? mara murdumurdu is a really simple flatbread to make and it only needs two main ingredients murdumurdu wholemeal wheat flour and kauwi water. If you want to make the maramurdumurdu more fancy you can blend different Australian food grains into the murdumurdu flour such as wattleseed, kangaroo grass seed, purslane seeds, Australian millet, sandalwood nuts or macadamia nuts for flavour and texture. Australian indigenous spices, herbs or salt can be add to the mara murdumurdu for an unique flavour. If you are gluten intolerant you can use brown rice flour in the same way as wholemeal wheat flour.
Mara murdumurdu mai is a unique style of johnnycake flatbread made from whole grain flour. The name mara murdumurdu translates as ‘hand bread’, ‘mara’ hand and murdumurdu ‘bread’ because the johnnycake is the size of your hand and is held like a taco in your hand when you eat it.
The murdumurdu is made by mixing boiling hot water and wholegrain flour together to create a soft dough. The dough is rolled flat with an unique rolling pin called wirri mai that is purposely designed for making the maramurdumurdu. The flatten dough is embossed with an unique zigzag design with the handle of the wirri mai. The maramurdumurdu is cut to size in a circle shape with the kurruru mai. The johnny cake is cooked on a flat hot cooking surface on each side. The maramurdumurdu is finally filled with a regional selection of mai vegetable food and pardu meat. Finally it is served and eaten!
Ingredients
Murdumurdu Whole meal wheat flour 1 cup
Murdumurdu White wheat flour 1 cup
Kauwi water 2 cups
Equipment
Kampa kurru Saucepan
Kurru Bowl
Kurruru mai Circle 15cm biscuit cutter
Wirri mai rolling pin
Tarralyi Kitchen Bench or chopping board
Tadli tadli frying pan
Recipe
Serves 2 people
How do you to make mara murdumurdu? mara murdumurdu is a really simple flatbread to make and it only needs two main ingredients murdumurdu wholemeal wheat flour and kauwi water. If you want to make the maramurdumurdu more fancy you can blend different Australian food grains into the murdumurdu flour such as wattleseed, kangaroo grass seed, purslane seeds, Australian millet, sandalwood nuts or macadamia nuts for flavour and texture. Australian indigenous spices, herbs or salt can be add to the mara murdumurdu for an unique flavour. If you are gluten intolerant you can use brown rice flour in the same way as wholemeal wheat flour.
- Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan.
- Add 1 cup of whole wheat flour into the boiling water and stir the flour until it is mixed through well.
- When the water and the wholemeal flour is mixed together and looks like a thick paste. Remove from heat and let it sit cool down to room temperature.
- Once the mixture is called it is ready to kneed. On a board or a bench top take the White flour in kneed the wholemeal dough.
- The dough needs to be kneaded until the dough is firm and stretchy.
- Take the wirri mai rolling pin and using the smooth shaft of the wirri mai roll out the dough until it's about 3 mm thick. Using the handle of the wirri mai emboss the flatten dough with the zigzag design.
- Using the kurruru mai in the same way as a biscuit cutter press out the mara murdumurdu flatbread. The Johnny cake should be 12-15cm in size. You can lift the mara murdumurdu off the board using the wedge tip of the wirri mai which can also be used to flip the mara murdumurdu in the frying pan in the same way as you would use a spatula.
- Heat a frying pan on the stove without oil. Place mara murdumurdu with the design side on the hot frying pan first. Cook the mara murdumurdu until the bread zig zag design turns to a light brown colour and then flip the mara murdumurdu to cook the opposite side the johnny cake . A simple way to know the maramurdumurdu is cooking correctly the johnny cake should puff up with air when it is cooking on the second sid. Using the tip of the wirri mai press the air out of the maramurdumurdu to flatten it back to the pan so that it can cook evenly.
- Once both sides of the mara murdumurdu are golden brown remove from the heat and are ready to fill with food. The mara murdumurdu should be soft and flexible not rubbery or hard. The texture of the mara murdumurdu should be similar to a cross between a Mexican tortilla and Middle eastern pitabread.