Nested Your Bread？Laced Your Pancake? Roti Jala （网面薄煎饼）

INTRODUCTION

As per Wikipedia’s definition on Malay Cuisine, it was stated that

“Roti jala – The name is derived from the Malay word roti (“bread”) and jala (“net”). A special ladle with a five-hole perforation used to make the bread looks like a fish net. It is usually eaten as an accompaniment to a curried dish, or served as a sweet with serawa. Serawa is made from a mixture of boiled coconut milk, brown sugar and pandan leaves.”

Yes, jala is net in Malay language and roti is bread in Malay language. However, in fact, it is a pancake created in a nested pattern and I was always amazed as to the way these pancakes are prepared. Some has also called it a lacy pancake.. It is a beautiful pancake to look at and a delicious pancake to eat..

To be very frank, i have never eaten this special Malay cuisine before as it was not very commonly sold in the stores in Singapore.. However, I have seen this special pancake in television shows, books and newspaper..

I did not thought that I will be preparing this until I saw the special ladle sold in a Singaporean bakery. As the price is relatively cheap (less than SGD2), I have decided to buy one ladle and try out a recipe to satisfy my curiosity.

Hold on to buy this special gadget for roti Jala, it is quite easy to prepare one at home. In fact, I would think that home prepared version is less messy for the preparation of the pancake since the plastic bottle is capped. Just heat up a safety pin, use the hot pin the make some holes on the cap of the plastic bottle and the apparatus to prepare lacy pancake is done.

In fact, I am very happy with the pancake.. It tasted way better than what I have expected. My kids love the texture of the pancake and I love the rich coconut aroma in the pancake that goes well some home cooked curry.. I served this with curry chicken and the pancake were disappearing very fast…. In fact, it is very addictive as the almost plain pancake just blends so well with the curry gravy.

If you are interested to know how to cook the curry chicken which was not included in this post, you can refer to : Simple Homemade Curry Chicken and Golden Pillow (咖喱鸡, 咖喱面包鸡）

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from: Seasaltwithfood: How To Make Roti Jala

Servings: About 12-15 pieces of Roti Jala with about 15 cm diameter

200 grams of plain flour
200 grams or ml of water
200 grams or ml of coconut milk (about 1 packet)
2 eggs
2 tablespoon of cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
Pinches of salt

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Put all the ingredients (except water and coconut milk) in the mixing bowl of stand mixer. Gradually add in water and coconut milk until the batter is well mixed with no lumps noted. You can easily use a hand whisk to do the job. Sift the batter if you saw lumps that refused to be well incorporated.

Lightly greased a flat cooking pan (preferred non stick pan). Transfer the batter to the special cup or the plastic bottle that you have prepared. Heat up the pan using medium to high heat and drizzle the batter in a circular pattern onto the pan. When the batter is set (dries up), transfer out and fold into your desired pattern. Best served warm with curry chicken or your preferred sauce. Note that roti jala can also be a dessert to be served with thick coconut milk and palm sugar.

CONCLUSION

I am definitely going to prepare this again. My roti jala may not be the most beautiful for the time being but the taste is awesome and i presumed in my next attempt, it will look much better than this batch.. Is it not practices make perfect?

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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