Care for some Roti?

Care for some Roti?

Twelve midnight and i'm sitting in my hotel room watching TV. I had been window shopping all evening and had forgotten about dinner. Looking out of my hotel window, the lights of the streets have not died down. So i figured i'd go down and look for a quiet place to eat. I've tasted the chinese food at Jalan Alor. I wanted to try something else. Walking down Jalan Pudu, i find a local restoran and have some chicken fried rice and a cold tea with milk.

"Want soome roti pesang? Or with beef? Or chicken?"

"What?"

"This." Pointing to the freshly heated dough on the 'hot plate'.

I've always wanted to know what that was. And why some people i see mix it in some curry sauce of some sort. I also did not like the idea of how they cook it - mashing and stretching (by hand) to get a consistently slim paperlike piece of dough. Remember the way, as kids we'd play with clay dough and flatten it with our palms? Yes, that way. Letting it cook on the hot surface, just enough not to be brittle. Then, leave it on the stove some more to cook.

"Ok, let me have a piece, please. The plain Roti" Will try something else some other time.

The next day, i'm having roti for breakfast at the hotel. And then at work with some friends. If in Pinas we had the pandesal, here, they have their roti.