Passport & Plate - Pra Kari with Roti Canai
Malaysia | Wednesday, March 4, 2015 | 3 photos
Ingredients
Roti Canai (serves 4):
Flour, 4 c.
Vegetable oil, 1 c.
Yeast, 1.5 tsp.
Salt, 1 tsp.
Pra Kari (serves 4):
Vegetable oil, 1/4 c.
Cinnamon sticks, 3
Star anise, 3 fruits
White mustard seed, 2 tsp.
Cloves, 2 tsp.
Red curry paste, 1/3 c.
Dried sour plums, 2
Chicken breasts and/or thighs (broken down), 4
Water, 1/4 c.
Salt, 1.5 tsp.
Sugar, 1.5 tsp.
Potatoes (boiled), 2
How to prepare this recipeAnyone can make this unique curry, but experimentation, good company, and willingness to use your hands are essential! Enjoy, or as they say in Sabah, aramaiti!
Roti Canai (serves 4):
1. Use your hands to mix flour, oil, yeast, and salt together in a large mixing bowl until well incorporated. The mixture should be firm but elastic. Add more flour or oil as needed.
2. Knead for 10 minutes.
3. Cut into rough ping-pong ball sized sections (any size will work) and use your hands to roll into balls.
4. Knead each ball for about one more minute.
5. Roll out on a floured surface into 1/4" thick discs. Cover with a towel and let rise for 20 minutes.
6. Heat a stove skillet on medium and add 2 tbsp. margarine. When the margarine is sizzling, add a roti disc to the skillet.
7. Fry one minute on both sides, or until golden brown, hot, and flaky. Repeat with all remaining roti discs.
Serve hot with Pra Kari.
Pra Kari (serves 4):
1. Mash the red onions, half the white onion, ginger, and garlic together with a mortar and pestle.
2. Add oil to a large wok and heat on medium.
3. Fry the onion, ginger, and garlic mash together with the cinnamon sticks, star anise, white mustard seed, and cloves for about one minute. Use a metal spatula to break up the ingredients and stir them together. You can do this by scraping the sides and bottom of the wok repeatedly with the spatula.
4. Add the curry paste and continue to stir with the metal spatula. Cook until the ingredients are incorporated and oil is no longer visible.
5. Add the sour plums and chicken, and cook about 7 minutes or until until the chicken is cooked through.
6. Turn the heat to low and add water.
7. Add potatoes, and add salt and sugar to taste. Let simmer for 10 minutes while you fry the roti canai.
The story behind this recipeI typed this recipe hastily on a phone last November, but my memory of that breezy day is so clear that I might not have needed to. I'd come to the village to visit the family of a teenage girl who was first my student and is now my close friend. I was overjoyed-- after nearly ten months of teaching English in the small town of Tuaran, in Sabah, I 'd finally been invited to enter a home kitchen and learn a recipe! I was no longer a guest, but a friend.
The bamboo house's window overlooked the bright green peace of rice paddies underneath a blue, cloudy sky. My student Ceeta and her three sisters chattered loudly as I sat on the carpeted floor with excitement, eager to learn the secrets of making roti canai at home (arguably better than from the kedai, shops where I watched in glee as the flaky, buttery bread arrived at our table, varied with some combination of egg, onion, and garlic). This would not be any roti and kari. This would be Sabahan roti and kari, cinnamon-ized and personalized by the proudly Pakistani Pra family women. Even the younger sisters were experts, and in all sincerity, I watched Ceeta's cousin Zahir sit with his one-year-old nephew to teach him to roll and fry baby-sized roti discs before he could even speak.
So I kneaded, rolled, and carefully took notes as the Pra women spiced up the kitchen with curry and teasing. We ate together over honeydew juice on the living room floor before spending the rest of the afternoon playing a dodgeball-like game called nyawa nyawa ikan (roughly translates to "fish out of water"). Every glance I shared with Ceeta that day was bittersweet-- I was to leave for the U.S. in just two weeks. Throughout the year, this student had made me feel welcome, invited me into her home, and taught me the secrets of Sabah. How to navigate the end of this brief but important era in our lives? There was no better ending than an afternoon among friends in the kitchen. Jumpa lagi, friend. Until next time.
