Roti canai dough stretched until paper-thin and fried into a tall, brittle cone, dusted with sugar and sometimes kaya or condensed milk. A theatrical mamak-stall invention, eaten as a crisp dessert-snack.
Roti tissue is a paper-thin variant of roti canai, available at most mamak stalls in Malaysia and Singapore. The dough is stretched to transparency, then fried into a tall, brittle cone shape, often a foot high, and dusted with sugar and sometimes coated with kaya (coconut jam) or sweetened condensed milk. It is a theatrical mamak-stall invention with no South-Indian predecessor in this form, eaten as a crisp, sweet dessert-snack, often shared.
Impossibly thin, glassy shards of crisp, buttery dough with a dusting of sugar on every layer, the cone collapsing into shards as you break it. Sweet, crunchy and light, eaten as a dessert-snack with coffee.
The roti canai dough is stretched even thinner than for roti telur, almost to transparency, then folded concertina-style into a tall cone. It is fried in ghee on a hot griddle, pressed together to compact the layers, and turned so the cone stands upright. The dough is so thin it fries glassy and brittle rather than chewy. Sugar is dusted on while hot so it sticks to every layer; kaya or condensed milk is drizzled at the end.
Variations
A savoury version skips the sugar. Some stalls offer a kaya-tissue with coconut jam.
On the Palate
Where Roti Tissue sits in the Malaysian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
6 steps · 20 min
- 18 min
Prepare roti canai dough (300g flour, 1 egg, 150ml water, 2 tbsp ghee, 1 tsp salt); knead, rest 1 hour.
- 24 min
Divide into 4 balls; oil and rest 30 minutes.
- 35 min
On an oiled surface, stretch one dough ball to maximum transparency, as thin as possible.
Watch outStretch the dough until you can almost see through it — the thinner it goes, the glassier and crisper it fries.
- 45 min
Fold concertina-style into a tall cone, pressing the layers together.
- 54 min
Fry the cone on a hot ghee-griddle, turning carefully, until deep golden, glassy and very crisp, about 4 minutes.
Watch outFry the cone in ghee until deep gold, glassy and brittle — dust it with sugar while it's hot so it sticks to every layer.
- 62 min
Stand upright on a plate, dust generously with sugar (and drizzle with kaya or condensed milk if using), and serve immediately while crisp.
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