''Roti sai mai'' ( th, โรตีสายไหม, ; "sai mai"; ), also known as roti-wrapped candy floss or Ayutthaya's cotton candy, is a

Southeast Asian Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

dessert from

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. is an Islamic-influenced dessert served by wrapping

cotton candy Cotton candy, also known as fairy floss and candy floss, is a spun sugar confection that resembles cotton. It usually contains small amounts of flavoring or food coloring. It is made by heating and liquefying sugar, and spinning it centrif ...

in sweet

roti Roti (also known as chapati) is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is popular in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Trin ...

. The rolling floss or cotton candy is thin, silky strings of spun sugar, found in a variety of hues. The roti (flatbread) is very thin and made from white or colored flour; green flour colored using pandan leaves.

Sesame Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cul ...

is often sprinkled on the top.

History

Origins

The recipe was initially brought to the

Ayutthaya Kingdom The Ayutthaya Kingdom (; th, อยุธยา, , IAST: or , ) was a Siamese kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is consi ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

traders, who produced and marketed the sweet among communities. The tasty dessert was commonly sold at roadside booths in both the city and the countryside.

Marketing

Coin-operated ''roti sai mai''

In the 1980s and 1990s, "coin-operated" could be found in markets. These sellers had small bicycles equipped with coin boxes on the backs. Customers would drop a 10

baht The baht (; th, บาท, ; sign: ฿; code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand. SWIFT ranked the Thai baht as the 10th-m ...

coin through the slot, and a rotating dial would spin, cycling through the numbers 3–7. The number the dial ended on was the number of pieces of the customer would get. This popular marketing gimmick allowed customers to "try their luck", and earn more pieces for the same coin. Customers could also just buy pieces at the normal price. Nowadays, these coin-operated sellers are extremely rare.

International marketing

One difficulty with the mass-marketing of ' is its limited shelf life. The dough and floss candy must be consumed within a few days, or the dessert's flavour will degrade, and it will spoil not soon after. The company Candy Crepe, founded by Jainnisa Kuvinichkul, collaborated with the National Science and Technology Development Agency of Thailand to increase the dessert's shelf-life. Their product has a shelf life of 6–12 months without the use of chemical additives.

References

External links

board.postjung.com

Making roti sai mai
{{Thai cuisine Thai desserts and snacks