Roti Canai, Florida and Mazda Fun
This post is sponsored by Mazda USA. All opinions are all my own.
Summertime Fun!
This summer has been full of some great adventures and incredible food. So many great memories from days in the park to our latest road trip to Florida’s First Coast in a 2017 Mazda CX-9 Signature AWD, a sophisticated and family friendly vehicle. The Mazda CX-9 is all that and more, with seating up to seven. This stunning car has all the bells and whistles. With that completely indulgent look and feel, what you experience is the best of both worlds, a luxury car and family car all rolled into one.
Trust me, I’m a road trip kind of gal!
I will fly if I have to, but the convenience of taking to the open road suits me to a T. When traveling with young children, it’s so much easier and more comfortable for all to be able to navigate the trip without the hassle of airports. Oh and don’t get me started on getting children AND every bit of carry on through security.
For our road trip, we comfortably enjoyed the Mazda CX-9 down to the First Coast of Florida, Jacksonville and St. Augustine, where we enjoyed the sun, beach and of course the typical afternoon summer thunderstorms. It was really great fun, from the gorgeous gelato we ate at Cafe del Hidalgo in St. Augustine (my favorite was their Lemoncello galato) to the Old Spanish Fort. In Jacksonville, otherwise known as the river city, there was so many great things happening, including a great festival at the Seawalk Pavilion and I had a tasty meal with great company in a fantastic restaurant in 5 Points, called Hawkers. This place! Loved it, and the inspiration for my recipe today, Roti Canai.
Below is John, the nicest gelato maker and you can taste his amazing creations at the Cafe del Hidalgo in St. Augustine, FL! If you get the chance to meet him, tell him I said “hi”!
To keep the little ones (and myself) happy, not only did we have plenty of snacks and my favorite Honey Dates and Walnut Bites, but there were charging ports in the backseats for their devices! YES!!! Do you realize how wonderful that was!?! We also had so much space for our luggage because the third row of seats in the back can fold down if needed. The only downfall to our trip, was that my daughter and I couldn’t agree on which music to play, so it ended up on a Disney pop music station the entire time, oh yah. You can imagine my enthusiasm.
To learn more about the Mazda CX-9 Signature AWD and all of their other models, keep up with them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Here’s a little sneak peek of our Florida fun.
Now for this crazy tasty Roti Canai with a “gimme more” curry dipping sauce. Yes, it was inspired by our trip to Florida, crazy but true. There are so many great restaurants in the Jacksonville area, but one in particular stood out to me, Hawkers, where they have an Asian street food inspired menu. Their menu was full of so many amazing choices, but the Roti Canai was the one that I kept going back to.
Roti Canai is a simple Malaysian bread that is served with a gorgeous curry dipping sauce. Make the curry sauce a day or two before and keep it in the refrigerator for up to a week. It’s also so good served over Basmati rice or used as the base for a nice chicken curry meal.
Make plenty of the Roti Canai, seriously, you’ll thank me, ’cause it is that good!
Roti Canai with a Curry Dipping Sauce
A seriously tasty appetizer, Roti Canai served up with a gorgeous curry dipping sauce!
Ingredients
- For the Roti Canai:
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Water
- 1/4 cup Ghee or Butter, melted
- Oil
- For the Curry Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp Ghee or Butter, melted
- 1 large Onion, grated (a handheld box grater works well)
- 3 - 4 Garlic Cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp Garam Masala blend
- 1 tsp Ginger, ground
- 2 Tbsp Tumeric, ground
- 1 Chicken or Vegetable flavored bullion cube, crumbled
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
- 1/2 - 1 tsp Crushed Red Chilies
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- 1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream
- 1 (15 oz) can Coconut Milk
- 3 - 4 Tbsp fresh Cilantro, chopped
Instructions
For the Roti Canai:
- In a large bowl, combine the Flour and Salt, then make a well in the center.
- Add the Water and stir to mix well. Using your hands or fork, bring the dough together in the bowl.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until smooth. Then start to flatten the dough into a disc, cutting the dough into 8 equal portions.
- Shape each piece of dough into a ball, and place into a lightly oiled bowl, rolling the dough around to cover with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and all to rest for at least 2 - 4 hours or overnight.
- Lightly flour a rolling pin to roll out 1 ball of dough into about an 8 inch circle. Cover the remaining dough with plastic until you are ready to roll it out until it is almost see through. Don't worry if some of it tears, the next step will cover that up.
- Brush the rolled out dough with a some of the melted ghee or butter. then begin to loosely roll or fold into a 10 - 12 inch log shape. Then, holding the dough at one end up in the air, start to slowly coil the dough into a circle on the work surface. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let the coiled dough rest for about 15 minutes, and then roll again until you have a flattened disc, about an 8 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- In a heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat and brush a little oil and allow to get hot.
- Cook 1 Roti at a time for about 2 - 3 minutes on each side until golden.
- Keep warm in a 200°F oven or cover with a clean kitchen towel until ready to serve. Repeat with the remaining Roti.
- Once cooked, you can lay the bread on the work surface and "clap" the Roti together to loosen and allowing to steam.
For the Curry Dipping Sauce:
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, add the Ghee or Butter and allow to just melt.
- Add in the grated Onion (can be grated by hand with a cheese grater) and minced Garlic to the hot pan, saute until Onion is translucent.
- To the sauteed Onion mixture, add in the Lemon Juice, Garam Masala blend, ground Ginger, Tumeric, crumbled Chicken Bullion cube, and Crushed Red Chilies, mix well and cook for about a minute.
- Pour in the Heavy Cream and add the Coconut Milk, bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer, stirring occasionally, cook for 10 - 12 minutes, or until reduced by a third.
- Season to taste with Salt and Pepper, if needed.
- Just before serving, stir in the chopped fresh Cilantro and mix in well. Garnish with additional Cilantro if desired.
To serve:
Simply pile Roti Canai along with a dipping bowl filled with the Curry Sauce. Serve warm and enjoy.
Notes
You can keep the Curry Sauce in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. It is also a great Curry base that you can vegetables or meat to and serve over Basmati rice, for a proper curry.
Curry Sauce is best made the day before serving.
Stacey is a Southern girl with a taste for travel, thriving on the discovery of the world through food. After spending many years traveling and living overseas, she’s now back home in her beloved deep south enjoying life with her three little ones and loving the adventure. She’s a food stylist and food photographer, as well as, the creative behind Little Figgy Food, where she loves to inspire others to try new flavors and foodie techniques.
Do you know if it would be possible to make the sauce with whole milk instead of heavy cream? Thanks!
Hi Teresa! I haven’t made this sauce with just milk, you can but will be much thinner, so you might want to thicken it up with a teaspoon of flour. Another option to substitute the heavy cream is to mix whole milk with butter, adding the fat to the milk is basically what heavy cream is. To do this to equal the amount for this recipe, combine 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of melted butter with 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of milk and mix thoroughly to make 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream. Hope this helps! 🙂