035 One Bread, Four Generations, Three Continents with Shakila Majid

Roti Canai was a revelation to me - a simple bread dough is formed into balls, stretched very thinly, scrunched, spiraled, and re-flattened.

After being coated in ghee every step of the way, the flat bread is then fried in more ghee. Finally, the hot, crispy, buttery layers are pulled apart and eaten.

While new to me, this bread represents stability and family and love and home to my guest Shakila. The bread connects her the multi-cultural family that somehow made living together on one compound work in Singapore. The bread follows her to England and eventually the U.S. and finally, it was this bread that brought Shakila’s American son back to his Singaporean roots.

If any of us ever doubted the power of food, this episode will convince us that food is family, love, and memories.

Highlights

A mother to 4 before the age of 16
"They all cooked all the time."
A wedding reception for 700 people - and the surprising cooks
An extended, multi-cultural family living together on a compound in Singapore
The bread that took Shakila full circle
"Everything that came out of her kitchen was made with love. And I could taste it."
How to make Roti Canai (Roti Paratha)