Roti Jala aka Lace Pancake....

Yesterday a friend call me up to ask about the making of Roti Jala which in Malay is translated as net bread. It does not look anything like a bread to me but a lacy pancake is more precise the correct word. It has to be eaten with a curry sauce and so I made some Curry Kapitan to go with it. Here is the recipe to share of the Roti Jala.

Roti Jala cup with five funnels........

Ingredients:

2 cups or 240g flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

120 ml or 1/2 cup thick coconut milk

2 cups or 500 ml water

a pinch of tumeric for colouring

Method:

The batter that is mix til smooth.........

Sift flour into a bowl and add salt and tumeric powder. Combine coconut milk with water. Gradually stir in beaten eggs and coconut milk into flour and beat til batter is smooth. Strain batter to get rid of lumps.

Cooking roti jala in non stick pan............

Grease and heat a non stick pan over low heat. Put a ladleful of batter into roti jala cup and move it in circular motion over pan so that pancake will have a lacy pattern. Cook til set. Fold it into two or fold once and roll up. Serve it with any curry of your choice.

Savoury Pancakes.........

Recently while tidying up my larder in the kitchen, I saw 2 boxes of left over self raising flour. This is the usual scene when the unreliable maid always made me buy or open up new packets of flour with the usual answers like "xxxxxxxx sudah habis" when I ask her to list out the items which needed to be fill up when I go shopping for groceries.

So in order to prevent the flours from producing more 'kutus' or 'flour ticks' crawling everywhere I crack my brains to see what I can cook up...

So here comes my savoury pancakes make with some sliced veges and eggs.........a creation also inspired by some Korean Pancakes which my niece Iris made for me sometime ago using korean pancake mix and kim chi. Here is a rough estimation of the ingredients I used.......

Ingredients:

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 medium sized carrot - julienned

80 g cabbage - julienned

1 big onion - sliced

1 sprig of spring onion - sliced into 1/2 cm

10 to 15 medium sized prawns - peeled and cut into small cubes and season with a dash of salt and pepper

2 eggs - slightly beaten

1 tbsp olive oil or melted butter

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

water to mix - just enough for a not too thick and watery mixture

The pancake mixture ready for frying......

Methods:

In a heated pan, saute the sliced onions in a tablespoon of oil, when softened, add in cubed prawns to cook til it changed colour. Add in cabbage and carrots to stir-fry for a minute. Then put aside to cool.

Sieve flour in a bowl, make a hole in the centre and pour in beaten eggs. Slowly use a ladle or big spoon to mix in the flour and add water bit by bit while stirring to mix into a not too thick and watery smooth mixture. Add in sugar and salt and continue mixing til the sugar dissolved. Add in the vege prawn mixture and spring onion. Mix well.

Heat a non stick pan with a little oil and scoop a ladle of the pancake mixture into the pan spreading out the mixture with the back of the ladle and fry for a few minutes turning over to cook on the other side when one side is slightly golden brown in colour. These savoury pancakes are best eaten hot.

Pancake frying in pan..........

Crispy and yummy golden pancake................

Note: For a korean flavour just add sliced kimchi in place of cabbage.