Roti Jala: Lacy/Net Crepe

This is another dish from my home-land of good food in Malaysia, Roti Jala (jala means net in malay) is basically a crepe with a makeover! The batter is flavoured and coloured with turmeric powder and then poured through a special cup or mould with several perforations or nozzles, which results in a lacy crepe either folded into quarters or rolled up like a spring roll. It is commonly served with chicken curry or rendang. My roti jala cup had three holes and I was fortunate enough to find this tucked inside the kitchen cabinet, once again thanks to my mother in law. It’s like a tressure chest in there; I never know what I would find 😯 I made this number last week as a trial run for a dinner party gig my friend asked me to cater for. Roti Jala was one of the menu items. The crepes turned out perfect in my trial run but it wasn’t the same story on the day of the event. Though I used the exact same quantities in both attempts, my roti jala refused to turn out on the night itself. I felt the batter yielded a softer crepe and thus made it difficult to roll up. Perhaps it was due to the use of coconut milk which was absent in my first trial run where I just blended water and dessicated coconut. Or could it be that I forgot to strain the mixture on the night itself which caused my batter not to flow smoothly from the cup onto the pan? It was incredibly frustrating because this should be so simple. Ah well, this calls for more fine-tuning. Anyway, here are photos from my trial run at home.

    

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4 comments to Roti Jala: Lacy/Net Crepe

  • Moyang

    Kev says this looks yummy

  • wendy williams

    Hello. Thank you for a lovely site. Do you know where I can get a jala cup? Thank you.

  • Lucky you ‘finding’ a roti jala cup in your cupboard. Having just returned from a food adventure in Malaysia I am wondering if you might know where I might purchase such an implement.

  • Mei Sze

    Hi Judi,
    hmmm…I only know where you can find it in Malaysia. Haven’t seen one sold in Melbourne unfortunately. However, you can always get creative and make perforations in a plastic cup or a fresly emptied milk carton 🙂

    Mei Sze