The Roti Jala dessert recipe you’ve been waiting for

The Roti Jala dessert recipe you’ve been waiting for

Green Tea Lace Pancakes with Gula Melaka Custard is one dessert you'll keep making over and over again - it's that delicious.

Green Tea Lace Pancakes – pretty to look at, delicious to eat.

Serve Roti Jala at any buffet and Malaysians will patiently queue to pile their plates sky high with these intricate yellow lace pancakes.

Most of us drown it in chicken curry, but lace pancakes can be eaten sweet, paired with decadent kuah durian.

Not everyone eats durian though, so we’ve made lace pancakes with a twist, something worthy of a fancy restaurant.

Ingredients

Green tea lace pancakes.

20g (8 tsp) green tea powder
300g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
115g (1/3 cup + ¼ cup) coconut cream
2 eggs
480ml (2 cups) water
60g (4 tbsp) sugar
5g (1 tsp) salt
2-3 leaves pandan leaves, one edge tied together with a rubber band
120ml (1/2 cup) cooking oil

Gula melaka custard
  • 135g (3/4c) grated coconut sugar (gula Melaka), packed
  • 30g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter
  • 3g (1 tsp) vanilla essence
  • 30g (1/4 cup) all-purpose flour
  • 480ml (2 cups) milk

Equipment

  • Food processor, regular or handheld blender
  • Strainer
  • Lace pancake funnel
  • 30cm heavy bottomed non-stick pan
  • Thin non-stick or metal spatula
  • Aluminium foil

Making the batter
In a large mixing bowl, add flour then water. Whisk until evenly mixed and most lumps have broken down. We recommend using a handheld mixer instead of a regular whisk.

Add flour and water to a large mixing bowl.
Whisk until batter is thoroughly mixed and is as smooth as you can get it.
  • Next, add coconut cream, eggs, salt, sugar and green tea powder.
Dump all the ingredients in.
  • Whisk until batter is smooth and green tea powder is thoroughly mixed in.
Scrape sides of mixing bowl to ensure you get all the green tea powder.
  • Once mixed, run the batter through a sieve into another bowl to remove any leftover clumps.
Run the batter through a sieve.

Better batter

Batter consistency is very important. It shouldn’t be too watery or too thick. The recipe above should yield the right consistency, however, results can vary.

Heating the oil

  • Lay a sheet of aluminium foil on the kitchen surface, close to where you’ll be cooking the pancakes. Also prepare a plate.
  • Heat cooking oil in your skillet or pan over high heat.
Heat oil.
  • Use tied pandan leaves to “stir” the oil. This releases some of the delicious pandan aroma into the oil. However, do not dip the whole pandan leaf into the oil.
Stir the oil with pandan leaves.
  • The oil is hot enough when it starts to sizzle around the leaf. Transfer the oil back into a small heat-proof bowl. Do not discard the pandan leaves. It will be your “brush”. Turn the heat down to medium.
Transfer hot oil back into a small bowl.

Cooking the pancakes

  • Fill your Roti Jala funnel with batter. Depending on the size of the funnel, each lace pancake uses almost half a funnel’s worth of batter. However, add more as the pressure will help the batter flow out of the funnel more evenly.
Fill the funnel with batter.
  • Working quickly, bring the funnel over to the pan. Start by making a flower pattern then filling it in with a continuous circular motion.
Create circular lace patterns with the funnel.
  • Once you’ve completed the lace pattern, “brush” some of the cooked oil onto the exposed side of the Roti Jala with the pandan leaves. One quick dip of oil is sufficient.
Dab some oil onto the lace pancake.
  • The pancake should cook in roughly 15-20 seconds. If it’s cooking much faster than you can handle, turn the heat down a little.
The lace pancake is ready when the batter no longer looks wet.
  • Use a thin non-stick or metal spatula to carefully lift one edge of the pancake. Slide the spatula under the pancake and gently remove pancake from pan.
  • Flip the pancake over before transferring to a sheet of aluminium foil so the brighter green of the pancake will be underneath.
Remove lace pancake gently using a thin metal spatula.
  • Repeat the steps above until batter is finished. Fold each lace pancake while waiting for the other to cook. Don’t pile pancakes on top of each other as they can become entangled.

Folding the pancakes

Start by folding pancake into a third.
Then fold opposite side over the first fold to form a long rectangle.
Take one end of the rectangle and once again, fold it into a third.
Fold the opposite corner over the first fold, making sure the edges do not stick out.
Fold it in half.
Voila!
Repeat steps above until all pancakes are folded.

Gula Melaka custard 

  • In a small pot or saucepan, combine flour and grated coconut sugar. Do not turn on heat just yet.
Combine flour and gula Melaka.
  • Whisk until flour and sugar are evenly mixed. It’s ok if a few clumps remain as Gula Melaka tends to be quite moist.
Whisk until evenly mixed.
  • Turn the stovetop on to medium heat, then whisk in the milk, stirring regularly until it starts to simmer and thicken.
Whisk in milk.
  • The sauce is ready when you can swipe a finger across the back of the spoon and it remains clean.
Your sauce is ready.
  • Turn off fire and add in butter and vanilla. Stir until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Finally, add in butter and vanilla.
  • Serve with pancakes in a separate bowl, or pour over the top.

This article first appeared in butterkicap.com

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