Roti Canai/Paratha Bread - Step by Step Recipes

One of the things I miss most here in the USA is the Mamak stalls. We like to go there for breakfast or for teh tarik (pull tea) in the evening. My friends and I can just sit there and talk till the wee hours in the morning. Sometimes I do miss that simplicity in life. Roti canai or roti paratha is a flat bread that is flip over and over until they become transparently thin before they fold them with lots of air bubble and ghee inside that when they pan fry it, it becomes light and crispy on the outside and slightly chewy and springy on the inside.

I might look easy to make but they are not. Each time I try to flip it, the dough will stick together and I get the oil all over the kitchen. I gave up and end up stretching the dough will my fingers. The roti canai came out ok. Not as thin and crispy as I wanted it to. I hope I will do a better job the next time I make this again. From now on please don’t take the Mamak roti canai for granted. It involves more hard work than you think ;)

Ingredients:
adapoted from Mamafami

500 grm flour
300 ml water
1 egg
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp condensed milk
1 tbsp margarine
Some vegetable oil

1. Dissolve salt and condensed milk in water. Beat in the egg. Add in the egg mixture to the flour, mix and knead until it forms into smooth soft dough. Leave it to rest for 30 minutes.

2. Divide the dough into 10-11 pieces. Roll it into balls and rub margarine over each ball. Keep the dough balls in a container and leave it to rest for at least 4 hours. Over night will be better.
3. Grease the work table with some vegetable oil. Press and flatten the balls of dough with your palm. Spread a bit of oil on the flatten dough.

4. With your palm and fingers, pull and stretch out dough as thin as possible. Be careful not to tear it especially in the middle because the tear will grow bigger as your stretch. Oil you dough and hands as you go along.

5. Bring the dough to the center to form long dough. If we can get air trapped in the thin sheet at this point, don’t press air out as it would give a lighter, fluffier result. Hold one end of the dough upwards and swirl it down to form a piece of swirly turban. Set it aside to rest for half an hour.

6. Heat up a non-stick pan with a bit of oil. Lightly flatten the dough again with your fingers and place the dough over low heat pan. Cook slowly on one side until golden brown, turn over the dough and cook over the other side until golden brown. Serve warm with some curry.

Note: Be careful when you work with the dough. It can't be re-kneaded or streached out again once you mess it up. You have to throw it away.

I am entering this post in the Muhibbah Malaysian Monday roundup, created and hosted by Sharon of Test with a Skewer and Suresh of 3 Hungry Tummies.