Flaky, pan-fried flatbread stretched paper thin, folded and griddled with ghee, then served with dhal and curry. Kuala Lumpur mamak stalls sell it from early morning into the night.
Where to eat it: 5 restaurants across 2 cities.
Roti canai is the Malaysian form of the South Indian parotta, brought by Indian Muslim cooks whose mamak restaurants became the country's all-hours canteens. The dough of flour, water, egg and ghee rests until it can be spun and stretched thin on an oiled steel counter, then folded and fried so the layers separate. It is eaten torn by hand and dipped in dhal or curry, and ordered in variations: telur with egg, bawang with onion, or banjir, flooded with curry. In Kuala Lumpur Mansion Tea Stall on Jalan Masjid India serves it banjir style until 19:00, and Hamdan's in Chow Kit opens its counter at seven.
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Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg
Tip from the editors. The long rest is what makes the dough stretch without tearing; a two-hour rest gives a tough, chewy bread.
Hamdan's Roti Canai fries flaky roti among the Chow Kit hawker stalls in Kuala Lumpur, ladling dhal and curry over a counter that opens at seven.
OrderOrder the roti canai with dhal and curry, flipped fresh at the counter.
TipGo for the roti sarang burung if the plain canai is sold out, it is nearly as popular.
Mansion Tea Stall on Jalan Masjid India in Kuala Lumpur serves roti canai chopped and drowned in dhal and curry, from 07:00 to 19:00 every day.
TryRoti canai banjir
TipOrder the roti banjir special, roti canai cut into pieces under dhal, curry and two eggs.
Sami's Corner works a side lane off Jalan Tun Sambanthan in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, from 07:00 until midnight, best known for a queue-free chicken biryani.
TryChicken biryani, sup kambing and roti canai
TipBiryani is a regular item here, not a Sunday only special as at some of its Brickfields neighbours.
Restoran Yusoof Dan Zakhir serves nasi kandar, roti and dosa beside Central Market on Jalan Hang Kasturi, Kuala Lumpur, an Indian Muslim counter open early.
OrderNasi kandar with squid sambal and a side of roti canai.
TipBreakfast works here too, with roti canai and dosa on the menu before the nasi kandar trays fill up for lunch.
Roti Canai Transfer Road has flipped flaky flatbread at its roadside stall for around half a century, Penang's definitive curry-flooded breakfast.
TryRoti canai banjir
TipAsk for banjir, flooded with curry, and add a curried egg; go before 11:00 because the gravy pots empty first.
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