Roti

You may have already heard of roti, they are similar to tortillas (flat bread) fried in margarine or clarified butter, flavored with all kinds of different things such as condensed milk, banana, chicken curry, raisins, etc. Roti vendors sell this in many Asian countries.

It takes practice to get it right, the video below filmed in Thailand is an excellent way to learn the technique. He's been doing it for years, watch his every step.

We've developed a good recipe that works well. With some practice you can make it just like in Thailand. We were very happy that when our 11 year old son, who has spent many summers in Thailand, tried our roti for the first time and remarked "mmmm this tastes just like in Thailand!"

In February 2010 Jennifer Bain, Toronto Star's Food Editor, used our recipe and praised our Roti Street Vendor Video in a detailed story about roti "Rediscovering the banana pancake".

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1 egg
1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Method
In a bowl, combine water, egg, condensed milk, sugar, and salt. Mix well. Set aside.

Sift the flour into a large bowl, and form a crater in the sifted flour. Pour the water/egg mixture into the flour, and mix well. Add melted butter. Knead this until the bowl is clean and you have a nice ball of dough. Lightly coat the dough ball with vegetable oil (we like canola oil). Let it sit for 30 minutes.

Next, knead your dough a bit more, and form it into several balls (about double the size of a golf ball). Coat them with vegetable oil.

Roll a ball of dough flat with a rolling pin, then cut from center out to edge. Roll it up as shown in pictures below. Push it in with your finger. Repeat this a few times.

Now roll the dough ball into a very flat square sheet, coat it with a bit more oil, pick it up and place it on a hot (highest setting) pancake griddle that has melted margarine on it. You can use a skillet also, but we found that our electric pancake griddle works great. Add a bit more margarine and watch your roti become a delicious little masterpiece. It only takes a minute or two. Flip it over. Watch the video below for guidance on how to add fruit, egg, raisins, condensed milk, whatever. We really like to add condensed milk. Enjoy this recipe! It's a lot of fun, and very tasty.

Ingredients ready		Add to flour
Knead and let sit 30 min		Make into smaller balls
Flatten and cut like this		Roll it up and around
Hold and push in		Flatten again and brush with oil
Cook on hot griddle, with margarine		Top with sweetened condensed milk
		Roll it up, cut, toppings, enjoy
New Video: Street Vendor Prepares Roti Click to watch

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