Roti: Malaysia's favourite hotbread

Today, 16 September, is Malaysia Day commemorating the federation of Malaysia in 1963.

Malaysia is a favourite country of mine, and one I have visited several times. The shopping is good and it is quite an easy place to get around, as having had a period of English rule, there are still many people who understand at leafs some English, even though Bahasa Malay is now the official language.

But the language of Malaysia is really its food: the tropical fruits, the curries and stir fries, the Nyonya cuisine - and of course the breads.

(Picture by Takeaway)

Roti is a type of Indian-influenced flatbread found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. It is often sold in Mamak stalls in Malaysia; The word 'Mamak' is from the Tamil term for maternal uncle, or 'maa-ma'. In Singapore and Malaysia, it is used to respectfully by children to address adults such as shopkeepers.

There are several sorts of roti that you will see as you travel in Malaysia. Sometimes they are round, sometimes square. Roti canai is one of the most popular, and while it is a flat bread, the custom is to 'fluff' the bread up before eating it. This is done by roughly clapping it between the hands.

Watch this video to see how it is made: 

Traditionally, roti is served with dal or dhal, a lentil curry. However it can sometimes be served with sugar (such as this towering one above at the Sydney Malaysian restaurant, Mamak) or with condensed milk and banana.

While making the dough is very simple (see this video too), as you will see it is in the stretching and working the dough that real experience and skill is needed. However, while it is possible to make an edible result without doing this, it will not have the lightness and flakiness which makes a well-made roti such a delight.

Better still, travel to Malaysia and see these breads being made. 

Singapore - Kaya toast

August 9th is Singapore's National Day and marks the date that Singapore gained independence from Malaysia in 1965.

Singaporean cuisine draws on the foods of the multicultural city's many nationalities. For instance, roti, a flaky, buttery flatbread is popular with Indian and Malaysian dishes, but one unique addition to the breakfast scene is kaya toast.

Kaya toast is served at cafes throughout the city, including a chain called (of course!) Kaya Toast. Kaya is a rich coconut egg jam and is traditionally served on thickly buttered toast, often along with a soft-boiled egg, accompanied by a cup of coffee made by draining coffee grounds through a 'sock'! Yes, you read that right, but this, of course is not a real sock, but a woven cotton filter which gives a rich result.

Kaya jam is available at Asian food stores, but it is relatively easy to make your own. Try the recipe below. Do not omit the pandan flavouring (also from Asian supermarkets) as it gives the distinctive flavour associated with this jam. If you can find fresh pandan (screwpine) leaves, you can twist a short length and let it cook along with the milk and sugar, removing it before bottling.

KAYA JAM                                     

4 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups coconut cream

3/4 cup grated palm sugar (gula melaka or jaggery) - about 5oz

1 teaspoon pandan  flavour

Whisk the yolks in to 1/4 cup coconut cream. Heat the palm sugar in a medium pan over medium heat until melted. Stir while it becomes a caramel, around 4-5 minutes. Whisk in the remaining coconut cream and heat until thickening slightly. The foaming should have subsided into slowing plopping.

Off heat whisk a few tablespoons of the sugar-coconut mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Return the caramel cream to a medium heat and quickly mix in the egg mixture, beating steadily to avoid curdling. Add pandan flavouring and keep stirring for seven or so minutes until thickened.

Pour into a clean dry jar which has been sterilised with boiling water. Chill for several hours until cold and set.

(adapted from Serious Eats)

France's Big Day

July has been France's month ever since the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Actually, Bastille Day didn't become official until some time later. In 1790 the anniversary was simply termed the Fête de la Fédération, and was not referred to as Bastille Day, and adopted as an annual national holiday, until almost a century later, in 1880.

But while this was a defining moment, most people love France just as much on the 364 other days of the year.

Much of this comes down to the national preoccupation with food and wine. And who could blame the French? Their country has some of the best agricultural land and growing conditions, a nation full of food lovers and chefs aplenty.

As far as food goes, while cheese – or rather its 300 or so variations – is a national favourite, so too is bread. Every village has a boulangerie, and most early mornings will see a long queue of customers forming outside to pick up a bundle of fresh baguettes and croissants to go with their morning coffee.

Long, long ago in another career I made bread for the sandwiches every day in my health food takeaway shop, and pretty much all the other food too.

In keeping with the 'healthy' angle I also made wholemeal croissants on Sunday mornings and they were a real hit. At that time croissants weren't available everywhere as they are now, and wholemeal ones (just like now) weren't heard of.

I adapted a recipe which I think came from a US Bon Appetit magazine, and chose it because it looked quicker than the classic recipes which seemed a bit too much trouble. I had small children. I taught cookery classes in the back of the shop. I was more than busy. 

Here is the recipe.....

I hope you like it! Good luck with it.

Georgia and its boat breads

Georgia is one of those countries that, if asked, many people could not easily place on the world map. FYI it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan.

Today is the country's Day of First Republic, commemorating its declaration of independence from Russia in 1918.

Georgian breads are important in the diet, but one which has many versions is khatchapuri. The end of the word hints at its connection with bread.

What makes it a standout is that these breads come stuffed or topped with wonderfully creamy, fresh cheeses and often also eggs. Most are baked along with the cheese making this a delicious snack or full meal.

Adjarian khachapuri comes from an autonomous republic of Georgia located in the south-western corner, bordered by Turkey to the south and at the eastern end of the Black Sea. In this bread the dough is formed into an open boat shape and the hot pie may be topped with a raw egg and a pat of butter before serving. The egg will cook in the heat of the just-baked bread.

I made mine without the egg and served the bread with a side salad for a light meal.

The recipe is simple. Make a basic yeasted bread dough, let it rise, then cut into pieces about the size of a large bread roll. Roll each of these out into a thin oval and cover while you make a filling of goats cheese, fetta or any other creamy white cheese. 

Add grated sharp cheese and some yoghurt then spread some of the mixture in the middle of each piece of dough. Roll up the edges and crimp the ends together to make a boat shape. Bake in a preheated 225C oven for about 20 minutes or until golden. Top with an egg and butter if liked and serve immediately, or cool on a wire rack.

Ireland - soda bread

There is hardly any need to say what day March 17th is, nor which country is associated with it. St Patrick has long been the patron saint of the Emerald Isle and the Irish love nothing better than a good old 'knees-up' so his feast day ties in well with a day of eating drinking and parading.

Almost as much revered in Ireland is the national bread. To understand this, imagine yourself a century ago in a tiny cottage with a hungry hardworking husband and ten children. They want bread, and the want lots of it and they want it fast.

With no time to wait for bread to rise, soda bread was the solution. It's easy to make, but because it does not have the keeping properties of a yeasted bread, it stales quickly. This was never a problem though in big families, as every crumb was gone by the end of the meal.

Soda bread is typically made from soft wheat flour, the sort used for cakes or pastries, with lower levels of gluten. Sometimes, the buttermilk is replaced by live yoghurt or even stout. As with scones (because this is basically a scone bread) the dough should not be kneaded.

In Ulster, wholemeal soda bread is usually known as wheaten bread and it is sweetened. In the southern provinces of Ireland, it is usually known as brown bread. See how to make it....

If the dough is rolled out and cooked as a flat bread, it might be called a soda farl or griddle cakes, griddle bread (or soda farls in Ulster). These may be rounded and have a cross cut in the top to allow the bread to expand.  See how to make these...

Whether or not the good saint ever ate these breads, we cannot be sure. But today, every self-respecting Irish person does.

Hungary - Kürtősh (Chimney cake)

Today, Hungary celebrates a special day on 15 March, to commemorate the revolution of 1848 for constitutional demands.

So let's talk about Kürtősh - one of Hungary's many breads.

Of course I’d heard of chimney cakes. Some time ago, I learned that somewhere in Sydney there was a café which made them, but I had no real concept of what they were.

No one said they were Hungarian. No one mentioned they were like a baked doughnut. I don’t even remember anyone disclosing that they are the closest thing to nirvana.

It took a trip to Wellington, New Zealand, and a morning stroll through the city’s Sunday morning riverside markets for me to have my first taste of them when I found a stall serving towers of dough rings, baked golden, lustrous with sugar, showered with cinnamon, crusty with nuts.

I knew immediately what they were, but no way did I realise how they were made. Basically it’s this: a rope of tender pliable bun dough is wound around a thick greased wooden rolling pin, covering its 20centimetre or so length. The dough is anointed with melted butter, rolled in sugar then placed in an open sided ‘oven’ where it rotates in front of the glowing heat-source, baking and caramelising. Think, doner kebabs, to get an approximate idea of the method.

But that’s where the similarity stops. The result is a million times better than the humble doner.

Once cooked, the kürtősh tower is released from its rolling pin, rolled in whatever topping is requested, then wrapped for the next person in the lengthening queue. Once I had mine, I ate it perched on a nearby concrete wall. It was too good to wait another moment for.

Back home in Sydney I couldn't wait to visit one of the string of the (now) four Kürtősh cafes in my town, Randwick, Crows Nest, Surry Hills and, newest, Darlinghurst. Find them all here.

Surry Hills worked well for me, right near the end of Crown Street where it meets Cleveland. Parking right outside, amazing aromas from inside, a table, coffee, what more could I want?

I shared my kürtősh (did I mention that unless carbs are your best friend, a whole one is a little daunting to consume solo) and it had the same effect on my friend as my virgin kürtősh-tasting had on me.

Although the flavour is similar, unlike a doughnut, there is a pastry crispness to kürtősh, in counterpoint to the cooked but tender inner parts. 

The café also had a long display counter of cakes and other goodies. Better still, little tastes were available and I have to say that ‘Mum’s chocolate cake’ was made by a Mum who truly knew what she was doing. None of that chemical, bulk cake mixture flavour, just good home cooking.

Now, you could consume these delicious things forever without a care in the world for their pedigree or provenance, but just in case you need a bit of history with your kürtősh, it is this: the name kürtősh comes from kürtőskalács - a traditional Hungarian pastry famously known as chimney cake. This cylindrical yeast pastry is often sold as street snacks from carts all over Hungary. Once a festive treat, now it is part of everyday consumption. If you are interested in knowing more, kürtősh has quite an interesting past. Read about it.

Bulgaria - Pogacha

Today is Bulgaria's Liberation Day, celebrating autonomy within the Bulgarian Empire in 1878.

A very common bread in Bulgaria and its Balkan neighbours is pogacha. The name may be the same but the results can differ widely. Every place makes its own version, or more than one variety, and so they come in all different textures and flavours across the country.

Some pogácsa are only two centimetres around and two centimetres high; others are much larger. Some have a crumbly scone-like consistency inside, while others are more tender like a fresh dinner roll or croissant. More specifically, in Hungary this snack food or meal item is typically 3 to 10 cm in diameter, though they range in size from the smaller, crispier scone-like "buttons" through to larger fluffier versions.

Pogača is sometimes served hot as an appetizer and/or bread. Hot pogača filled with sour cream (or curd and feta cheese in Turkey and Bulgaria) is considered a particularly delicious specialty.

Watch this video to see how a traditional cornet-pogacha is made. It is not quick so, obviously, more elaborate breads like this are often made for a special family occasions.

Almost all breads like this are made with a basic bun-dough recipe. Because of the additional fat and eggs, the dough is richer and easy to handle and, when baked, it has a fine light texture which makes it ideal for sweet festive breads.

Here is my recipe for the dough:

BASIC BUN DOUGH

approximately 2 1/2 to 3 cups plain white flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon dry yeast

1 cup lukewarm water and milk, mixed

60g (1/4 cup) melted butter

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup castor sugar

Add the butter to the liquid, then egg, salt and sugar Mix well to combine. Add 1 cup of flour and the yeast and mix well. Leave covered in a warm place for 20-30 minutes until light. Now add enough more flour to make a soft dough and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a clean greased bowl, cover and leave for about an hour or until doubled.

Now use it in any number of bun and yeasted cake recipes.

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If you have never made this sort of dough, don't be intimidated. When I used to teach bread-making classes, I would put up a big sign somewhere in the room, saying 'Bread-making is EASY!' Because it is.

Try it! Then stand back for the compliments!! Trust me, there will be many.

* Bookmark this page as you will use this dough to make any of a wide range of sweet breads.

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