ROTI PRATA OR ROTI CANAI?

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Above, in the foregound is a plate of roti prata/paratha. Further back is a bowl of mutton kimma that goes very well with roti prata.

In the song that you have just listened to, Zaharah Agus alluded that roti canai and roti prata are both made from flour and gave the impression that there is no difference between roti canai and roti prata. Apparently, there is.

I have never tasted roti prata before. There was no shop in Kuala Terengganu that sold roti prata, at least none that I can remember. There were (and still are) plenty of joints offering roti canai all over Terengganu. There were places that sold roti tempayan (naan)and there were places where you can get murtabak.

When I visited Singapore I found places that offer roti prata. Not just the garden variety but cheese prata, tomato prata , onion prata and sardine prata. Back home, I have tried roti canai sardine and roti telur. It is not until last Sunday that I got to taste roti prata at Pakistani eating shop along Jalan Ipoh (next to a RHB Bank branch and across the road from a Shell Station). The restoran is called MEHRAN. The signboard is Pakistan green.

The prata there is different from roti canai. On roti canai you can discern the "coils" of the dough but on this flatbread, it is flat. It is bigger too. You do not get dhall here but chickpeas (kacang kuda) in gravy, free. You have to pay for the mutton kimma though which is worth every sen. The prata is less oily than roti canai and I was told that they use a different flour too.

Prata, like naan, I have been told, came via the Muslim conquerors of India, the Mughals. It is higly likely that roti chanai originated in Madras (now Chennai). Somebody has to confirm that roti canai can be found in Chennai because my friends told me that they could not find air sirup Bandung or Mee Bandung in that city.

Labels: roti prata