s.e. asian roti

When I was in Thailand a few years back, I ate several times at a tiny restaurant that specialized in roti--a dense, flaky fried bread served with a masaman style curry. It was great! I haven't had any luck finding this dish in Chicago, does anyone have any recommendations?

Panang on Wentworth and 22nd makes and serves a very good roti.

My mother eats the frozen variety quite regularly, although not as good as you can quite imagine. My mother has purchased them recently at Thai Grocery in addition to Woodman's. They come in two varieties: plain and another rendition with onions, etc. My mother enjoys them plain. Pan fried and then covered with sweet condensed milk. Hope this helps.

Cheers

K2daP,

They sell roti at Woodman's? Wow, that is quite impressive. Is it in their bakery area or the international food aisle? Frozen foods?

What else do you buy at Woodman's that is worth noting?

Regards,

Actually, I'm a pretty big fan of the frozen rotis as well (I usually buy the packages labeled "paratha"). I can't remember the names of the brands...I've tried at least two different ones, but usually get the brand w/ the red and yellow packaging.

Makes for a quick and easy snack or side to a meal.

Thanks so much! I had no idea you could buy them pre-prepared--a good excuse to go up to Thai Grocery today. (Not that it takes much of an excuse...)

They sell them on Devon - try Kamdar Plaza grocery store a couple blocks east of California on Devon - in the freezer section on the left as you enter. These are labeled paratha, not roti. They go for around $3 a bag for 5 or 6. They are from Malaysia - can't remember the label name, but the ones with the neon green labeling on the package are good. I do recommend Kamdar, b/c I have purchased them at other places only to find them with green mold!
Try them with some cherry preserves or lemon curd and powdered sugar in addition to eating with your Malaysian, Indian, or Thai food - they are excellent this way.
They also have a pretty good version you can get with your stir fry at Flat Top Grills - but they only let you get one per bowl.

They are also available at the grocery stores in Chinatown. Sometimes May's (the store at the eastern most corner of the "newer" shopping plaza) has them on sale for something like 2 for $3.

Also available at the Oakton Marketplace in Skokie. In fact, I've seen them in just about every Asian or ethnic store....and I've never come across any green mold. yuck!

I never thought to eat them w/ sweet condiments. Sounds yummy, I'll have to give it a try

Also available at Fox and Obel--not the cheapest place to buy anything, of course. I don't believe they carry the green onion variety, which I think best as a standalone snack.

When we were kids, we ate them with granulated sugar, while the adults had them with curry... =)

We also tried "kaya" (a brown Malayan egg jam) and nutella.... My parents thought I was nuts... =)

Anyone have a recipe? My hubby loves the version at Flat Top Grill. Poor guy.. he'll go put a blue stick into the empty bowl and go up a few times just to satify his craving.

Here is a recipe... In Singapore, we call the plain ones "Roti Canai" or "Roti Prata" and the ones with eggs inside are "Roti Telur".

Ingredients:
600 gm plain flour
1 tbs salt
1 cup warm water
Sugar to taste
Ghee

Mix salt with flour and sieve into a bowl
Add sugar if necessary
Add water and knead into dough no longer sticks to hand
Knead till it feels 'elastic'
Divide into 8 portion, return to bowl, brush it with ghee and cover with damp cloth leaving for 1/2 hour
Take 1 portion, spread a little ghee on top and flatten with hands
Pick up flattened dough by the edges and swirl in circular motion until dough thins out
Fold dough to form a square and flatten out again
Repeat process to trap air in layers of dough
Flatten once again and fry on heated flat pan or iron griddle till cooked
Remove and serve hot with dhal or any curry of your choice

Reffy wrote:They sell them on Devon - try Kamdar Plaza grocery store a couple blocks east of California on Devon - in the freezer section on the left as you enter. These are labeled paratha, not roti. They go for around $3 a bag for 5 or 6. They are

Actually, I think theyre available pretty much everywhere in the Indian stores.
I nkow Ive picked them up in "other" grocery stores on Devon too - there are
so many now. In the frozen food section too. And Ive never actually paid
3 bucks for 5 or 6 - that would be a bit much (since you can get em at
restaurants for 50 cents for fresh rotis, most of the time). I think on sale
Ive even got em for like a buck for 6.

If you want em fresh, BTW (and if youre paying 3 bucks for a packet of 6),
its probably better to just stop by one of the cabbie joints - Daata Durbar
or Delhi Durbar or Hyderabad House or Ghareeb Nawaz. I think you can
get em for about 50 cents a pop at those places, freshly made (and
wrapped in tin foil). Even if theyre cold, you just cover em and nuke em
for 20-30 seconds and theyre just fine, usually

c8w

the brand we have at home is Kawan and on the packaging it is listed as paratha and roti. just had some this past weekend...pan fried to a nice and not too crispy brown, one side smothered with sweet condensed milk. folded over once and then ready to consume. man, i could have ate the whole package right then and there (5 to a package at $1.60 a package - also comes in an onion flavor).

also comes in an onion flavor

I doubt sweetened condensed milk would work here! How do you prepare the savory version?

Last night I stopped over at my BF's place to pick up his mail and newspapers while he's on vacation. While looking for a snack, I found frozen parathas (the Kawan brand)... and couldn't stop eating them. Clearly, I am not allowed to buy them for myself, since I have no self control!

The new free-standing grocery store in Chinatown (I think it's called Chinatown market?) was giving out samples on Saturday of whatever brand they carry. I saw they had plain and onion.

Yep, Chinatown Market had them. Spring Home brand, 3 packages for $5. Fried some up last night. Flaky but it did not have the chewiness of real roti prata. Crispy on the outside with maybe one layer of chewiness..

c8w wrote:

Reffy wrote:They sell them on Devon - try Kamdar Plaza grocery store a couple blocks east of California on Devon - in the freezer section on the left as you enter. These are labeled paratha, not roti. They go for around $3 a bag for 5 or 6. They are

Actually, I think theyre available pretty much everywhere in the Indian stores.
I nkow Ive picked them up in "other" grocery stores on Devon too - there are
so many now. In the frozen food section too. And Ive never actually paid
3 bucks for 5 or 6 - that would be a bit much (since you can get em at
restaurants for 50 cents for fresh rotis, most of the time). I think on sale
Ive even got em for like a buck for 6.

If you want em fresh, BTW (and if youre paying 3 bucks for a packet of 6),
its probably better to just stop by one of the cabbie joints - Daata Durbar
or Delhi Durbar or Hyderabad House or Ghareeb Nawaz. I think you can
get em for about 50 cents a pop at those places, freshly made (and
wrapped in tin foil). Even if theyre cold, you just cover em and nuke em
for 20-30 seconds and theyre just fine, usually

c8w

yeah they are everywhere on devon, the frozen one that are similar to se asian ones (I think they are made malaysia) are usually labeled roti parantha. These are slightly different than the ones you can pick up to go from hyderabad house etc. - they're a little flakier and lighter, which makes me wonder if they have more folds or the flour is significantly different - they seem more like the parantha you get from sri lankan or kerala places

btw, the type of parantha you get at indian restaurants (at least the non-stuffed ones) are vey very easy to make at home, and a pretty kid friendly activity

CrazyC wrote:Fold dough to form a square and flatten out again
Repeat process to trap air in layers of dough

I beg to differ with your interpretation of what you are doing here. What you are really doing is forming layers of fat, which cause the flaky texture you enjoy. When you make puff pastry, there is a layer of butter between the dough, by repeated folding and rolling, folding and rolling you create flaky layers. The flakiness in a pie crust is the fine incorporation fat into the flour before adding the water.

If you made the roti and never introduced the ghee, you could fold and roll until the cows come home and no flakiness will occur. You need the fat to create the layers.

By the way, on Friday night I was on Devon Avenue. I bought frozen roti/parantha which I had with breakfast today. I remembered your comments about the sugar. I did a variation from my days of eating too many blini. I spread sour cream and sprinkled with sugar. When I do this again, I will mix sour cream, sugar and some vanilla together, then spread it on the roti. It will taste just a little bit better.

Thanks for all the lovely discussion. You all influence me quite a bit with all the ideas and discussion. Since turkey curry is on menu later this week, I have something new to show the family.

Thanks!

Cathy2 wrote:

CrazyC wrote:Fold dough to form a square and flatten out again
Repeat process to trap air in layers of dough

I beg to differ with your interpretation of what you are doing here. What you are really doing is forming layers of fat, which cause the flaky texture you enjoy. When you make puff pastry, there is a layer of butter between the dough, by repeated folding and rolling, folding and rolling you create flaky layers. The flakiness in a pie crust is the fine incorporation fat into the flour before adding the water.

If you made the roti and never introduced the ghee, you could fold and roll until the cows come home and no flakiness will occur. You need the fat to create the layers.

Totally agree, C2 - I was always taught to add a little ghee after each fold, for that great flaky texture, and let's face it - ghee tastes good

zim wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:

CrazyC wrote:Fold dough to form a square and flatten out again
Repeat process to trap air in layers of dough

I beg to differ with your interpretation of what you are doing here. What you are really doing is forming layers of fat, which cause the flaky texture you enjoy. When you make puff pastry, there is a layer of butter between the dough, by repeated folding and rolling, folding and rolling you create flaky layers. The flakiness in a pie crust is the fine incorporation fat into the flour before adding the water.

If you made the roti and never introduced the ghee, you could fold and roll until the cows come home and no flakiness will occur. You need the fat to create the layers.

Totally agree, C2 - I was always taught to add a little ghee after each fold, for that great flaky texture, and let's face it - ghee tastes good

Hmmm... might have to have a fist fight here... Turns out after googling, that there may be 2 types of roti we are talking about:

Roti prata (or canai) as served in Singapore and Malaysia is not as flaky as it is chewy. Not many layers to it either.
Prata

Parantha is an Indian bread, more crispy and flaky... Which would explain why I thought I got the wrong order last time at Baba's
Parantha

Anyone can confirm? Or am I out of my mind??