Roti Jala "Lacy Coconut Pancake"

Makes about 15to 20 pieces

Roti Jala is a traditional Malay food. It is light and thin yellow pancake served with Chicken Curry, Chicken Rendang or any Fish Curry. Roti Jala (directly translated as “Net Bread”) - They are essentially savory pancakes which have a net or lace like designs, and are eaten with curries. I call these "Lacy Coconut Pancake". My favorite way to eat them is with chicken and potato curry. And if you asked me what my favorite carb accompaniment to curry was -  this would be it. I would not dare to speak of how many of these I can eat in one sitting… 

These are made with a special mould, which has five mini “funnels” in it.  If you don’t own such a mould, you can poke 5 holes in a milk can and use that as a makeshift mould. I was actually surprised at how fuss free they were, and how good they tasted! If you haven’t had these before, do try them, and I promise you won’t be dissapointed!

I sent two moulds to my brother Pete in US and thought I should keep one of this and... I  made the pancakes. :) 

Here is the recipe.

150g (1 cup) Plain Flour

1/3 cup (50g) Tapioca Flour, Tapioca Flour, Wikipedia - tapioca flour

1 cup Thick Fresh Coconut Milk ( you can also substitute with semi-skimmed milk)

1 to 1 1/4 cups Water
2 eggs
1/2 t salt
1 tsp Ground Turmeric, Wikipedia - Turmeric
1/2 tbsp Vegetable Oil or Melted Butter 

Method:

1. Combine all the ingredients and whisk until the batter is free of lumps. Strain the batter. Let the batter stand for 5 minutes. The batter should be quite thin, and flow easily but not too thin or it will pool together instead of forming strands. Too thick or if you drizzle too fast, only beads or dots will form. Adjust with more flour or water till you get it right. Be patient. Drizzle at a medium speed to get lacier pancakes.
2. Grease a frying pan.  Using a Roti Jala cup, drizzle rings of batter in small circles until a net-like pancake is formed. If batter is too thick for your Roti Jala cup, thin it out a bit or cut the tips of the cup. Do not turn over, and do not let pancake brown. The pancake is done when the color changes completely, from whitish yellow to yellow, and at that point, roll up or fold into triangles shape while still in the pan and transfer to a serving plate. Serve with a curry.

Roti Jala moulds.

This is how you hold the mould and make a few swirl on the pan. The size of the pancake is about 6" ~ 8" in diameter.