How To Make Incredibly Tasty Malaysian Roti Jala (Lacy Net Crepe)

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This popular and tasty Malaysian Roti Jala, literally translates to roti=bread, and jala = net. Malaysian Roti Jala is a lacy thin pancake crepe that is delicious eaten unadorned, or yummy served with stew or a savory spicy curry, especially Kari Ayam (Chicken Curry).

The other day I was craving for comfort food and this immediately came to mind. Roti Jala is easy to make (hello blender!) and cooks up in a jiffy! In other words, if you know how to make pancakes, this will be a cinch.

The ingredients are pantry items – flour, eggs, milk and coconut milk. The gorgeous golden yellow color comes from tumeric powder. Simply put all ingredient into a blender and mix. The batter is then filled into a bottle and drizzled continuously onto a hot pan in circles, creating a gorgeous lacy net-like structure that is perfect to sop up all the delicious curry sauce from your plate!

A quick note about Roti Jala maker

The roti jala maker is a plastic condiment squeeze bottle with 3 nozzles. I bought one online and it looks like this.

You can also make your own roti jala maker with a clean dry plastic soda bottle. I like using a small (16oz) soda bottle since it’s easier to handle. Just puncture 3 little holes in the plastic soda cap, and that’s it!

P.S. It’s a good idea to check to make sure no small plastic bits are sticking to the cap before pouring in the batter.

Gathering ingredients

To start, let’s gather all the ingredients to make the roti jala batter. We will be putting everything into a blender to make this simple batter.

We will need :

3 cups All Purpose Flour, sifted
2 cups Water
1 cup Coconut Milk, or regular Milk
1 Egg
1½ tsp Tumeric Powder
1 tsp Salt
3 Tbs Coconut oil, and more for the pan

Making the batter

First, add all ingredients into blender. Then, secure the lid and blend well for 1 minute or until well combined.

Next, scrape down the side to make sure the flour is well incorporated into the mixture and no lumps can be seen. The batter should look like melted vanilla ice cream. Then, set aside.

Second, heat a large non stick pan using low to medium heat. Lightly oil the pan. To test if the pan is ready, put a few drops of batter into the pan. If the batter sizzles, it is ready.

Next, pour the batter into the plastic squeeze bottle/roti jala maker. Secure the cap firmly.

Cooking the Malaysian Roti Jala

Gently squeeze the filled bottle to drizzle the batter in circles on the pan, in a slow and steady stream.

The roti cooks up quickly so watch the batter closely and adjust heat as necessary.

Since the roti is fairly thin, you’ll only need to cook it on one side. It is ready when the edges starts to turn lightly brown.

Then, remove promptly from the pan into a large plate, or working space.

Have a test run to get comfortable using the bottle and have a feel for the flow of the batter. Just like making crepes or pancakes, the first (and second!) piece of roti is always the cook’s test piece – to gauge how quickly the roti cooks.

Have fun creating different and unique lacy patterns!

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Malaysian Roti Jala Presentation

There are really 2 popular ways to serve Malaysian Roti Jala. One is a simple fan shaped wedge, and it’ll look like this:

The roti is soft and pliable when warm. It is best to fold it into the desired presentation shape right out of the pan.

To make a fan shaped wedge, all you do is remove the cooked roti from pan to a working space. Then, quickly fold the roti in half, and fold it one more time, into a quarter. And it is done. It is that simple and straightforward.

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For the pictures above, I folded the Roti Jala directly on the pan. Once you feel comfortable with the folding process, you can try folding the cooked roti directly on the pan before transferring to plate.

I personally prefer this fan shape roti jala because you can see the interesting lacy patterns. Also, I think it looks prettier on a plate, like the picture here.

The other popular shape is a log shaped style. It requires a few more steps and could look really cool when stacked and presented on a platter.

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide on how to fold Malaysian Roti Jala into a log shape:

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In conclusion, practice a few more times making this Tasty Malaysian Roti Jala and you’ll be folding them up like a pro! Have fun!

More Fab Food Ideas:

How about pairing Tasty Malaysian Roti Jala with a curry? Check out my post on how to put together a rich and flavorful lamb curry here => Jacques Pepin’s Amazing Spicy Lamb Curry with Apples and Potatoes

Have you ever tried Eggplant Parmesan, Hasselback style? This is my post on the fan shaped dish=>How to make Fan-Shaped Eggplant Parmesan. It’s a fun dish to put together.

For a fun dessert, check out this French Apple Tart => Fun French Apple Tart – Taking up Sara Moulton’s Challenge! I wrote about how I learned a new technique to slice the apples for quick assembly.

This gorgeous pull apart garlic bread pack punch with taste and presentation. Check out this post on how I put it together => Beautiful Pull-Apart Flower Petals Garlic Bread

This recipe was adapted from one of my favorite sites, Serious Eats https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/08/roti-jala-malaysian-pancake-recipe.html as well as from my good friend Saiful Alimin.