We all scream for.....roti prata?

I'm a member of Virtual Tourist, a great online community that has thousands of travel tips, a forum to ask questions, pictures, and best of all, a forum to set up meetings of local VT'ers wherever you go. On our round-the-world trip, we took advantage of this feature and met a whole crew of locals and travelling VT'ers just like us.  This meetup turned out to be lots of fun, so we thought we'd try it again in a different country.

Martin S, a VTer in Israel had shared many travel tips about Israel and kindly offered to host us there.  Well, as many of you know, we didn't quite make it.

A few months ago, I saw a note on VT from Martin saying he'd be out in the Bay Area as part of a family vacation!  I shot off an email to see whether we could meet up, and he told me of an informal get together/potluck in Novato at another VT member's house .  With freshly baked methi paratha and chutney in hand (I made the paratha, not the chutney), I headed up there, excited to meet local VTers and to meet Martin and family.   

We had such a great time! Martin, his wife, Zora and daughter Tal were totally charming and funny.   Jessica, the hostess turned out to be an avid baker- a woman after my own heart!  She graciously shared her sourdough starter and recipe with me--I'm planning on attempting it one of these days. 

I also met Carol, another extraordinary baker with whom I had quite a long conversaton about the joys of bread baking vs dessert baking.  She shared her roti canai recipe and some great bread cookbooks with me.   Here's the recipe and my attempt at it.

Roti Canai

14 oz all purpose unbleached flour

1/4 cup condensed milk

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup water

1 egg, beaten

2 TB canola oil for coating the balls of dough

1. put the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer. add milk, oil, egg and water. mix on #2 for 5 minutes with a dough hook.

2. divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and roll into balls. put them in a single layer on a large plate. pour 2 TB. of canola oil over the top and roll the balls around so that they are well coated. cover with plastic wrap and let them rest for 9 to 10 hours at room temp.

3. flatten out the first ball and roll out as thin as possible with a heavy rolling pin. starting at one end, roll up the bread into a long snake, coil the snake starting at the outside edge forming a cone shape. push down the cone to flatten it into a patty. form all the breads this way. Let the rest covered w/plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes.

4. heat a large heavy pan over medium-low heat until very hot. take out one of the patties and roll it into a 6" round. slap it on to the hot pan and cook for 10 seconds. flip and cook for 10 seconds. repeat the flipping until the roti is golden and covered darker cooked spots.

5. remove to a plate covered with a clean cloth. wrap the roti in the towel and cover w/another overturned plate to keep warm. repeat with the remaining breads.

So am I the only one that didn't make the connection that 'canai' comes from 'channa', (a mixture of boiled chickpeas in a spicy gravy from Northern India which it was traditionally served with) I mean, talk about a "duh!" moment.   Somehow it seemed so obvious now......

Comments

[Myrna]

That is a GREAT story. I love the fact that you met up people on VT. Keep on blogging!