The famous Malaysian wheat flour roti

Roti Canai, pronounced roti chanai, is a combination of two words: roti which means bread and canai which means rolling out the dough. This famous bread is inspired by the Indian roti. Similar to Kerala or Malabar paratha of India, it is sometimes referred to as roti paratha.

Combinations and forms:

Accompaniments: It is often served with dal (lentils) or chutney (paste made of lentils or coconut and chillies). In many parts of Malaysia, roti canai is eaten along with chicken or mutton curry.

Fillings: It can be eaten plain or stuffed with egg, peas or chicken.

Frozen: Owing to its popularity, it is also available at supermarkets at frozen food counters as a quick ready-to-eat dish.

Ingredients:

• Fine wheat flour
• Eggs
• Vegetable oil
• Sugar
• Water
• Ghee
• Salt

When?

It can be had at absolutely any and every meal, be it breakfast, lunch, snacks or dinner.

 

Presentation:

Roti canai is served in a number of attractive presentations. The most common style is crumpling the roti by hands to make it flaky and compact. The other style is cutting it into squares or bite-sized pieces, making it easy to pick and eat.

If given a chance, check how the thin layer of fine wheat flour dough is tossed in the flat pan and in the air for a uniform texture and even fineness. This technique of tossing and flipping it gives it the alternate name of ‘the flying bread’.

Variations:  

If I start writing about its never-ending variations, this blog post might never end. Here are my favourite 5:

Roti telur: Roti made with fried eggs for an extra zing/flavour.

Roti tisu: Also called roti tissue, this resembles the Indian roomali roti, that is flaky in texture, relatively thin and long.

Roti bom: Sweetned version of the roti with condensed milk. It is generally thick and small as opposed to the regular roti canai. My my – is this an addictive delicacy?!

Roti kacang: This form is protein-dense as it is made with lentils or pulses.

Roti ayam: The most preferred variation, ayam or chicken is stuffed inside the roti along with mashed peas or chopped onions.

Keep rolling, keep flipping!!!