Roti Jala / Malay net pancake recipe

Selam Everybody...... Merhaba from Turkey...

Roti Jala (also known as Roti Kirai or Roti Renjis), literally meaning Net Bread is a pretty dish that looks like a lace doily due to the way it is made.
In Indonesia this dish derived from the North Sumatra. Since geographically it closes to Malaysia so many Malay influence on that province including culture and culinary.

Roti jala usually is served alongside with curry dish/ curry sauce. In Deli  (Deli Serdang Regency) they serve it with famed lamb curry together with pickled pineapple.

According to the humanist M Muhar Omtatok, roti jala or net pancake is Malay food which could have been adapted from Indian element.

Roti jala also found in Riau Islands known as roti kirai.

And that's my friend what I am going to share today on my blog. Yes, Indonesian culinary is very rich and colorful due to we have many ethnic groups (more than 300) living from east to west Indonesian archipelago.

Indonesian cuisine varies greatly by region and has many different influences.

I made this roti jala to serve with my chicken curry, you can check my recipe here. But sometime I eat roti jala with different dipping sauce. Make slightly sweet version to go with your fruits jam or chocolate sauce, that's another ideas to enjoy roti jala.

Making this roti jala is simple and very easy. Just put everything in blender jar and process until all combine and smooth, run through over cheese cloth strainer to get finest no crumble batter.

For make "net" over the pan, place the batter on squeeze bottle with small spout. Or you can use water bottle and make some small pin whole on the cap. Or if you can find any roti jala mold it would be better.

So here roti jala recipe for you who want to experience Asian flavor on your dinner table.
Adapted from this recipe, I double the recipe and make minor adjustment to my personal prefer.

Make about 20 roti jala (depends how wide your pan is).
Ingredients:

• 300 g AP flour
• 2 large egg
• 100 ml undilute coconut milk (I 700 ml medium thick coconut milk*)
• 600 ml water *
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch of sugar
• ½~1 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil, plus for greasing the pan

(*) You can dilute 200 ml undiluted coconut milk/cream with water up to 700 ml



How to make roti jala:

1) Place all ingredients in blender jar and process until you get smooth batter. I use my hand handled blender. If you don’t have a blender you can do this with a wire whisk; beat the eggs first followed by other liquid ingredients and then dry ingredients. Make sure you whisk until the batter is really smooth.

2) Run the batter through a fine sieve ( I use cheese cloth)  into a measuring jug, make sure to remove any lumps. The batter should be able to sieve through smoothly. This is a very important step so there’re no lumps to clog up the spout of the squeeze bottle (or roti jala mold if you are using one).

3) Pour the sieved batter into a squeeze bottle with a tiny spout. Lightly brush with oil and heat a non-stick (crepe) pan or griddle. Use a paper towel to wipe off excess oil so that the crepe will not get burnt or browned by excess oil.

4) Work as swiftly as you can, squeeze the squeeze bottle with one hand to create net-like strips on the pan. Let the crepe cook and firm up, it will take 1 – 2 minutes. Watch over the crepe carefully so that the bottom does not brown or burn. Lift up the crepe with a spatula and transfer to a large plater, set aside to cool. I cover my roti jala with kitchen napkin to keep them moist once removed from pan, so it will be easier for us later to fold and prevent for breaking due to drying up.

5) Repeat with the remaining batter and stack the cooked crepes on the plate and cover with kitchen napkin to keep moist.
Fold the two sides of the crepe and roll up like a spring roll or triangle quarters. Here I use 2 sheet of roti jala in my each roll to get thicker fold.
You can do this while the crepe is cooking on the pan/griddle or when you have finished cooking all the crepes. Just be watchful over the crepes cooking on the pan - they burn easily!

Serve with your favorite curry: chicken, beef or lamb! See my chicken curry here.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Roti jala adalah makanan yang berasal dari Melayu Sumatera Utara. Biasanya makanan ini disuguhkan bersama kuah kari ayam, kambing atau sapi.

Di Deli makanan ini terkenal disajikan dengan kari kambing dan acar nanas. Menurut budayawan M Muhar Omtatok, roti jala merupakan makanan Melayu yang bisa saja teradaptasi dari unsur India. Roti jala juga terdapat di Kepulauan Riau dengan nama roti kirai.

So postingan saya hari ini adalah resep roti jala khas melayu. Roti jala ini saya sajikan bersama kari ayam yang resepnya sudah saya bagi disini. Anak dan suami saya suka sekali... Yahh..suami saya sih asal tidak pedas dia mah hap-hap saja makannya. ^,^ Walau dia bilang "berbeda" tapi tetap dimakan.

Yah tentu berbedalah Kang! makanan Turki dan Indonesia mah jauuuhhh berbeda ^,^

Resep saya adaptasi dari sebuah situs komersil asal Malaysia disini tapi saya adjust sedikit sesuai lidah saya, juga resepnya saya dobelkan sebab si akang saya ini makannya banyak! hehehehe....

Adapted from this recipe with minor adjustment

Bahan-bahan:

• 150 g tepung terigu
• 1 telur besar
• 50 ml santan kelapa kental instant
• 300 ml air (Saya gunakan 100 ml santan kelapa instant dan menambahkan air sampai 350 ml)
• 1 sdt garam
• sedikit gula (resep asli tidak pakai)
• ½ ~1 sdt bubuk kunyit (saya pakai½ sdt)
• 1 sdm minyak goreng, plus untuk mengoles wajan

Cara membuat:

1) Campur semua bahan dalam blender dan proses hingga adonan menjadi halus. Saya gunakan hand blender. Tapi jika tidak ada blender atau hand blender, bisa juga dengan menggunakan manual whisk; terlebih dulu kocok lepas telur dalam mangkok yang cukup besarnya, lalu masukan semua bahan cair diikuti dengan bahan kering. Pastika adonan benar-benar halus licin dan tidak bergerindil.

2) Saring adonan menggunakan saringan halus, saya gunakan saringan keju. Buang bagian yang kasar yang tidak melewati saringan. Tuang adonan halus yang sudah disaring ke dalam botol pencet (atau cetakan roti jala).

3) Panaskan sekitar ½ sdt minyak diatas wajan crepe anti lengket dengan api sedang. Ratakan dan lap minyak dengan kertas tissue agar minyak tidak berlebih. Lalu mulai buat roti jala dengan cara membuat motif jaring sebanyak yang anda bisa dengan botol pencet/ cetakan roti jala itu.

4) Diamkan sekitar 1 atau 2 menit, tapi jangan terlalu kering atau gosong. Balikkan sebentar agar permukaan yang lain agak kering dan segera angkat dari pan. Taruh diatas piring datar dan tutupi dengan serbet bersih agar tidak kering. Lakukan hingga semua adonan habis. Jika adonan dirasa agak mengental, tambahkan air sesendok demi seseondok saja hingga kekentalan yang diinginkan.

5) Lipat kedua sisi roti jala ke tengah dan gulung seperti menggulung lumpia. Bisa juga dilipat membentuk segitiga sederhana saja. Disini saya gunakan 2 roti jalan dalam tiap gulungan, jadi nampak tebal.

Sajikan dengan kari ayam, kambing atau sapi.