Roti Canai/Roti Prata

Roti Canai is a type of Indian-influenced flatbread found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. It is known as "Roti Prata" in Southern Malaysia and Singapore.  Roti Canai/Prata is circular and flat. There are two ways to make Roti Canai/Prata that is either to twirl it until the dough becomes a very thin sheet and then folded into a circular shape or to spread out the dough as thinly as possible before being folded. Then the folded dough is grilled with oil. Roti means bread in Hindi, the word 'Canai' in Malay means 'to roll out dough'.

This was my 6th attempt with different recipes from the internet and finally this recipe  from www.food.com worked for me and I was delighted that I finally succeed though I still need to perfect it.

Serving :4-5 Roti

Ingredients:
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Salt (You can reduce to 1/2 tablespoon)
1 Cup Water
1 Cup Cooking oil

1. Mix the salt in the water.

2. Put the flour in a mixing bowl. Add the salted water gradually.
3. Mix the flour into a dough. Knead for awhile. Make sure the texture of the dough is not too sticky and gooey. (This step is very important-The dough is a bit sticky, so do not add additional flour to create a smooth dough as you are not making pastry dough)

Sticky but not gooey dough

4.Oil your hands with cooking oil and then make the dough into palm sized balls.

5.In a bowl pour some oil so that the dough doesn’t stick to the bowl. Put in the balls, coating it with oil as you put one on top of each other. After it is all in a bowl, totally immerse it in oil. Leave over night. I leave it only for 1hour before rolling out the dough.

6.Oil your kneading space.Roll out each ball and extend it into a paper-thin circle, about 9 inches in diameter or flatten  it out into with you palms until the size of a dinner plate.

7.Take the one edge and fold it to the middle. Do this another three times so that it will turn into a square.

8. Grease a flat pan or skillet with cooking oil. Fry the roti gently for about 2 minutes till the bottom is properly browned.

** After rolling out the dough, you can put in your favourite filling or even an egg before folding up the edges into a square.