Tough Question - Roti Paratha a la Singapore

This is a tough one. When in Singapore on
vacation with my family a few years ago,
our host took us to the Muslim section
where a common dish was Roti Pratha fried
with several variations of toppings (served with a chicken curry was popular). It is not Prata as in Indian Bread but rather the
main dish and it is fried on a large griddle. I would love to know how to make this as I may never get there again.


[This message has been edited by wfmitchell (edited 11-18-2000).]

[This message has been edited by wfmitchell (edited 11-18-2000).]

[mudbug]

Well, after doing the research, I can say it sounds delectable. Not one negative thing about this food. Could it have been "martabak" that you had? (scroll down)


Roti Prata (Indian Griddled Bread)

Roti Prata was most likely brought to Singapore by early Indian traders. Instead of using atta or whole wheat flour, local cooks used the plain flour available to them to make a multi-layer flaky pastry bread.

The prata man, as he is called by the locals, is usually Indian. He skilfully flips the dough into the air (almost like pizza dough) stretching it until it is paper-thin, then folds it into several layers and fries it on a hot, oiled griddle. The roti prata comes out as a wonderful chewy and flaky texture.

In Singapore, it is served for breakfast; diners tear them into pieces and dip them in mild chicken curry. Eggs can also be added to form a nutritious breakfast.


Ingredients:

3* cups flour, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon salt * cup plus 5 tablespoons melted ghee or margarine
1* cups warm milk
3 to 6 tablespoons vegetable oil

Procedure:

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl.

2. Add 5 tablespoons of ghee and stir until the mixture looks crumbly.

3. Slowly pour in the milk and mix with your hands.

4. The dough will feel soft, spongy, and almost too sticky.

5. Knead the dough without adding extra flour until it pulls away from the bowl and forms a smooth ball.

6. Continue kneading until the dough feels just slightly sticky, about 10 minutes.

7. Cut the dough into 8 pieces.

8. Roll each piece into a ball, flatten it slightly, and rub it with ghee.

9. Place the flattened balls on a tray.

10. Cover the tray with a damp cloth and let the dough rest for at least for at least 5 hours. (If you make the dough the night before, cover the tray with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. )
11. Lightly oil a rolling pin and work surface with ghee.

12. Roll out one ball, stretching the dough into a paper-thin circle, about 9 inches in diameter.

13. Lightly brush the dough with ghee and lightly sprinkle it with flour.

14. Starting at the bottom edge, roll up the circle jelly-roll style until you have a long rope.

15. Gently pull the ends to stretch it an inch longer.

16. Take one end and roll it clockwise into a coil until it reaches the center of the rope.

17. Roll the opposite end clockwise until the two coils meet in the middle.

18. Fold one coil over on top of the other.

19. Press the two coils gently together into one thick round.

20. Wrap it with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 hour.

21. Repeat with the remaining balls.

22. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one round into a 6 to 7 inch circle. (It is best to roll out only rotis you will be serving immediately; keep the rest individually wrapped in plastic. )

23. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat; grease it with about 1 teaspoon each of a vegetable oil and ghee. Fry the roti gently for about 2 minutes or until the bottom is nicely browned.

24. Turn it over, add a teaspoon more oil or ghee, and fry a minute longer. When the bottom is golden brown and speckled and the roti is puffy, remove it and drain it on a paper towel.

25. Fry as many rotis as you want one at a time.

26. Serve hot with curry, preferably chicken curry. To eat, tear the roti into pieces and dip it into the chicken curry.


Note: To mix the dough in a food processor:

1. Put the flour and salt into the workbowl and pulse to mix.

2. Dribble the melted ghee over the flour and pulse until the mixture is crumbly, about 10 seconds.

3. While the machine is running, pour 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the warm milk down the feed tube; process until a ball of dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the workbowl.

4. Remove the dough and knead it on a flat surface for 5 to 10 minutes or until it feels spongy, elastic, just a bit sticky to the touch.

5. Try to refrain from dusting with flour; if needed, use only enough to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and the work surface.

6. Continue with step 7.

From: http://dali.sintercom.org/makan/recipe01.htm


More Roti Prata Recipes: http://dali.sintercom.org/makan/canai.htm

http://asiacuisine.com/database/raff.../r0000606.html

http://www.asiacuisine.com.sg/recipe...&options=print


Mutton Curry: http://people.A2000.nl/rvandeij/mcurryr.htm

About the food: http://www.globalgourmet.com/destina.../singwhat.html


Frozen Roti Prata: http://www.chinatownfood.com.sg/rotiprata.htm

In case you're ever in Singapore:
http://www.thegreenbook.com/bestfood.html

http://web3.asia1.com.sg/tnp/journey...f/critics.html

http://www.sintercom.org/makan/after12.htm

http://dali.sintercom.org/makan/where.htm


UUUUMMMMMMMMM!!!! http://www.caterplanasia.com/caterpl...rtpozzato.html

http://www.inforamp.net/~stpbyyz/recipe00.html

http://people.A2000.nl/rvandeij/recipeaz.htm

http://www.sintercom.org/makan/recipe01.htm

http://ritzst.com/cook/recipes/ind.htm

[mudbug]

Could either of these be a picture similar to that of what you had... "murtabak"? http://members.tripod.com/~zeoy/india.html
http://www.caterplanasia.com/caterpl.../r0000575.html


Murtabak (Spicy Meat-Stuffed Griddled Bread)

Singapore is known for its fabulous Indian cooking. Indian coffee shops and street hawkers serve an unbelievable assortment of griddled breads, known as roti or chapati breads, that are light, flaky, and slightly chewy. Murtabak, a very popular snack, is spicy ground meat encased in roti (bread) and browned on a griddle until crisp. Murtabak served with a salad makes a great luncheon entrée.

Ingredients:

ROTI
3* cups flour, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon salt
* cup plus 5 tablespoons melted ghee or margarine
1* cups warm milk
3 to 6 tablespoons vegetable oil

REMPAH
4 1-inch chunks fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
10 shallots (walnut size) or 2 large onions, peeled and sliced
6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup Red Chile Paste
2* tablespoons fresh or frozen curry leaves
2* tablespoons Indian-style curry powder
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 stalks Chinese celery or regular celery, chopped (about 1/3 cup) 2 eggs
Ghee or vegetable oil for frying

Procedure:

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl.
2. Add 5 tablespoons of ghee and stir until the mixture looks crumbly.
3. Slowly pour in the milk and mix with your hands.
4. The dough will feel soft, spongy, and almost too sticky.
5. Knead the dough without adding extra flour until it pulls away from the bowl and forms a smooth ball.
6. Continue kneading until the dough feels just slightly sticky, about 10 minutes.
7. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, flatten it slightly, and rub it with ghee.
8. Place the flattened balls on a tray. Cover the tray with a damp cloth and let the dough rest for at least for at least 5 hours. (If you make the dough the night before, cover the tray with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. )
9. Lightly oil a rolling pin and work surface with ghee.
10. Roll out one ball, stretching the dough into a paper-thin circle, about 9 inches in diameter.
11. Lightly brush the dough with ghee and lightly sprinkle it with flour.
12. Starting at the bottom edge, roll up the circle jelly-roll style until you have a long rope.
13. Gently pull the ends to stretch it an inch longer.
14. Take one end and roll it clockwise into a coil until it reaches the center of the rope.
15. Roll the opposite end clockwise until the two coils meet in the middle.
16. Fold one coil over on top of the other.
17. Press the two coils gently together into one thick round.
18. Wrap it with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 hour.
19. Repeat with the remaining balls.
20. To prepare the rempah, grind the ginger, shallots, and garlic to a smooth paste in a blender or food processor.
21. Add a tablespoon or more of water if needed to facilitate the blending.
22. Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan. When hot, carefully add the Red Chile Paste and curry leaves; fry over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until the rempah is fragrant and has a deep mahogany-red colour and porridge-like consistency, about 8 minutes. It is ready when reddish oil seeps out.
23. Mix in the curry powder and onion.
24. Lightly saute until the onion is limp.
25. Raise the heat and add the beef, salt, and sugar. Stir-fry, breaking up the lumps, until the meat is cooked but tender, about 5 minutes; do not brown.
26. Add the celery and stir-fry for a few seconds. The mixture should be crumbly.
27. Transfer it to a bowl and set aside to cool. When cool, beat in the eggs.
28. Place one bread round on a flat surface.
29. With your fingertips spread it into an 8-inch circle.
30. Put 3 heaping tablespoons of the meat mixture in the centre of the circle, leaving 2 inches of dough all around.
31. Fold two opposite sides of dough into the centre, overlapping them by * inch.
32. Fold over the remaining two sides to enclose the package. Press down gently to form a square.
33. Lightly oil a griddle or frying pan. Put a murtabak fold side down on the griddle and fry over low heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side.
34. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
35. Serve hot.

NOTE: Murtabak may be refrigerated; reheat in a 425 deg F oven for 10 minutes or microwave at high power for 1 minute. They can also be frozen; thaw for 1 hour before reheating.

From: http://members.tripod.com/~zeoy/rmurt.html


Other Murtabak Recipes:
http://www.caterplanasia.com/caterpl.../r0000575.html
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep....html#murtabak
http://www.sol.dk/dk/io/mortens_opsk.../o0140009.html
http://cheftochef.net/r/5/A05321.shtml
http://recipecircus.com/recipes/isha..._Murtabak.html

[mudbug]

Murtabak

Anyone who has seen murtaba being. made will find it almost impossible to believe that it can be made at home as the "mamak roti" men wbo have spent a lifetime making these parchment thin rotis achieve this by flinging a handful of dough in ever-wldening eurves.

An egg-sized lump becomes a large, smooth sheet in about the spade of a minute. lt is then cooked on a griddle and filled with savoury meat and ~oned beaten egg.

At home, you may not he able to put on such a spectacular display but it is possible to get the required thinness by soaking the halls of wellkneaded dough in oll for an hour or more and then spreading them with the hands much as though you were smoothing down a bed sheet.

Work on a smooth surface, then carry the thin pastry to the hot griddle over a rolling pin as fingers may easily make holes. The edges will be somewhat thieker than the eentre but this
does not matter.

The problem encountered in a domestie kitehen is getting a griddle large enough to cook murtaba on but there's no law that murtaba must be of a speelfie size and smaller ones taste just as well.

lngredients:

serves 4 - 6

3 cups plein white flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp ghee
1 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup oil

For the filling:

500 gms minced meat
2 tbsps ghee
1 lange red onion - sliced fine
2 cloves garlic - crushed
1/2 tsp fresh ginger - grated
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 1/2 tsps salt
2 tbsps fresh coriander leaves - finely chopped
1 res red chilli - finely sric
2 eggs - beaten
1 onion - finely sliced
Salt and pepper

Method:

For the roti:

1. Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and rub in the ghee.
2. Add the water and mix to a fairly soft dough.
3. Knead the dough for ten minutes or longer.
4. Divide the dough into equal-slzed balls and place them in a small bowl containing the oil.
5. Leave for at least an hour.

To make the filling:

1. Heat the ghee and fry the onion until it is soft.
2. Add the garlie and fresh ginger and continue to fry until the onion is golden brown.
3. Add the turmerie and chilli powder and stir for a few seconds.
4. Put in the meat and carry on frying, stirring constantly, until it is well-emked.

To cook the rnurtaba:

1. Season the beaten eggs with salt and pepper and set aside in a small bowl.
2. On a smooth surface, spread a little oil from the bowl and flatten one of the dough balls with a rolling pin.
3. Gently press with the fingers, spreiding the dough until it is almost as thin as strudel pastry.
4. Heat the griddle and grease it lightly with ghee.
5. Drape the roti over a rolling pin and transfer it on to the griddle.
6. It will cook very quiekly so spoon on some beaten egg and spread it over the middle portion of the roti with the underside of the spoon.
7. Sprinkle some meat over and just before folding, add a few slices of onion.
8. Fold over the sides of the roti, in an envelope like fashion to enclose the filling completely.
9. Turn it over and cook the other side, spreading a little more ghee or oil on the griddle before putting it down.
10. Cook until crisp and golden on both sides.
11. Serve hot either on its own or with a bowl of curry gravy or dhall.

Source - Traditional Malaysian Cuisine

From: http://dali.sintercom.org/makan/murtabak.htm

CCHIU,
I think it must be Murtabak. The pictures are similar as much as I can remember. The locals did call it Roti Parata but I think that is the the bread part. I do remember that an egg was involved during the frying process. My friends from Singapore now live down the street so I am going to print all of this and take it to them including the pictures.
Boy you are one good researcher. I used "Goggle" and I have been all over Singapore electronically. Look at the following post from the Epicurious Food Forum (http://food4.epicurious.com/HyperNews/get/archive_swap13001-13100/13046.html) and you can get an idea of how long I've been working on this. The only thing that I have had similar is Roti Canai at a wonderful Malaysian restaurant in New Jersey called Penang. I'm off to the Asian supermarket today to see if I can get the ingredients. Thanks for your stupendous effort.

[mudbug]

Very happy I could help. I'd much rather have a bite of the dish you're going to make. The internet is a wonderful thing. Navigating it is another story. Your description was detailed enough to not be entirely guessing.

I've always wanted to go to Singapore. Is it clean? Isn't that where people aren't allowed to dispose of their gum in public?

Reading about that food is like emmersing yourself in a different culture. To think that thousands if not millions of people eat it everyday and we can't even find the recipe? In many ways the world is small and yet just large enough for continual discovery.

Whew! Been looking for this for 3 years eh? Maybe we should promote the Singapore Cuisine by way of new American Singapore restaurants.

I hope you checked out the "Uuuummmmm" URL listings above. There are curry dishes that are commonly eaten with the roti prata which makes Martaba. And the above listing, http://dali.sintercom.org/makan/canai.htm, is a recipe of the Roti Canai you mention in your follow up.

Since it seems like such a difficult dish to make without practice, please let us know how it goes!

[This message has been edited by cchiu (edited 11-19-2000).]

[mudbug]

Uummmmm!

I had already found the recipe for Roti Canai a'la Christine. I have not made it though.
Yes, Singapore is very clean. You can eat Clili Crab and watch the ships steam thru the Straits of Molokai.

[Nick.Shu]

dude, its malacca, straits of malacca.

Yes, I was mentally in Hawaii. I realized this after it was too late and you can't erase an enter key. Thanks.

[mudbug]

wfmitchell,

Did you ever get the ingredients and try this?

no. i was too bust with T-Day.

[youla]

an indian taught me how to make parata roti, extremely funny, I dont care what recipe you have if you cant swing it round and round above your head in a circular twisting motion without it landing all over the top of your head ,, which I always ended up doing. It is not so much that they swing it around in the pizza dough motion...they swing it and turn it gathering much momentum!...make it look soooo easy!!!!

[mudbug]

Mitch,

One more recipe for Murtabek:
http://www.geocities.com/orientalcs/.../iss_9807.html

Let us know if you try it!

[Nick.Shu]

im sorry if i was little insulting. Actually, i dont blame you for thinking straits of molokai, because if i had a choice, thats where i'd be.