This morning’s breakfast comes from South-East Asia. Roti canai is a very popular food; essentially a type of flatbread that can be eaten by itself or together with curry.
There are lots of possibilities for preparing roti canai. A few are listed below
- Plain (roti kosong, “empty bread”)
- With eggs (roti telur, “egg bread”)
- With cheese
- With sweet ingredients (strawberries, chocolate, bananas, etc.)
- With meats, typically chicken or mutton (beef). This is more commonly known as murtabak or roti John.
A dish of roti canai is typically paired with a somewhat spicy dhal (lentil) curry, but can also be paired with a meat curry or with spicy sambal made with water spinach (kangkong).
Roti canai is usually eaten for breakfast, together with a hot mug of coffee mixed with condensed/evaporated milk (kopi C) or ginger tea (teh halia), or less commonly plain coffee (kopi kosong) or tea (teh kosong), but can be eaten at any time. With the advent of 24-hour eating places in Singapore and Malaysia, it’s not uncommon to have roti canai (in Singapore, referred to as roti prata) after a night out on the town!
Outside South-east Asia, roti canai and other South-East Asian dishes can typically be found at Malaysian/Singaporean restaurants. There are a couple of restaurants in the US, and while I haven’t been to the UK or Europe yet it wouldn’t surprise me to find them there.
I hope this short diary nourishes your Resistance for the day. Sedap! (“yummy”)