Recipe: Roti Gluay (thai Banana Pancake)

Thai banana pancakes, also known as Thai roti, is one of THE most popular street food amongst visitors to Thailand. You can see roti carts around touristy areas in Thailand offering so many different filling options like bananas, chocolate sauce, nutella, apples, etc. But bananas seem to be the all-time-fave variety amongst tourists, and for good reason!

Pailin's Kitchen

To make the dough:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1.5 tsp salt and 260 ml water. whisk until salt is dissolved. add 1 tbsp condensed milk and 1 egg. whisk until combined.

2. In another bowl, add 500 gm all purpose flour and 55 gms unsalted butter. use your fingers to rub the butter into flour until no more big chunks are visible.

3. Add flour-butter mixture to water mixture and knead with your hands quickly just until all the dry flour has been absorbed.

4. Cover bowl with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rest for 15 – 30 minutes.

5. Once dough has rested, transfer onto a clean work surface and continue kneading with your hands for about 5 minutes.

6. While dough is resting, mix together 1.5 tbsp melted butter and 1 tbsp oil for coating dough balls.

Stretch dough into a log, then cut into 80g pieces.

7. Form each dough piece into a ball by pinching the edges together towards the centre (see video for technique). doesn’t have to be perfect, but you want it to be round.

8. Brush the butter-oil mixture on the bottom of the container you’re using to store dough balls. then brush each dough ball generously with butter mixture and place into container.

9. Let dough rest for at least 3 hours, or you can refrigerate the dough and cook it the next day. if dough is refrigerated, remove from fridge at least 2 hours before using so it can come to room temp.

Easy way to shape the roti:

10. On a clean, lightly oiled work surface, press a dough ball into a flat disk.

11. Grab the edge, one section at a time, and stretch it out as far as it will go without tearing. press the edge onto the counter so it doesn’t shrink back. go around the piece stretching until you have a very thin sheet of dough.

12. Use a knife to trim off the very edge of the dough which tends to be thicker.

To cook the roti:

13.Heat a 12-inch flat skillet (or bigger) over medium heat and add enough oil to coat the bottom. be on the generous side with oil or you will not get a nice crisp roti. add a little piece of dough scrap into the pan as a heat tester, and once it’s bubbling in the oil, you’re ready to cook the dough.

14. Carefully transfer the stretched dough into the pan, trying not to let it fold onto itself during the transfer. once you've placed the dough, quickly use a spatula to straighten out any edges that have folded.

15. Arrange banana (or whatever filling you're using) in the centre of the dough in a square, about 12-16 slices. quickly fold the edges of the roti over the banana; don't wait to long before folding or the dough will become stiff and hard to fold.

16. Once the bottom side has browned slightly, flip and brown the other side. keep flipping it back and forth about every minute or so until both sides are well browned and crispy. total cooking time should be about 4-5 minutes.

17. If you wish, and add a little piece of butter beside the roti, then move the roti to coat it in this melted butter. let it cook in this butter for about 30 seconds.

18. Transfer roti onto a cutting board and cut into 12-16 pieces.

19. Use a bench scraper to place it onto a serving plate.

20. When ready to eat, drizzle condensed milk (or chocolate sauce) and sprinkle on some granulated sugar. enjoy!