Roti canai (also known as roti chennai or roti prata), is a uniquely Malaysian dish which has its origins lost in the Indian community of Malaysia. Roti means bread in Hindi (and Malay) but no one is completely certain of the origin of canai. The term canai itself is almost certainly a tansliteration from the phonetic form hence the usage of chennai or canai or chanai interchangably. Common usage favours the usage of canai.

The dough is a mixture composing copious amounts of fat, egg, flour and water. The form of fat used is usually clarified butter (ghee). The entire mixture is kneaded thoroughly, flattened, oiled and folded repeatedly. It is then allowed to proof and rise and the process is repeated.

The final round of preparation consists of flattening the dough ball, coating it with oil and then cooking on a flat iron skillet with a lot of oil. The ideal roti is flat, fluffy on the inside but crispy and flaky on the outside.

Usually it is served with lentil stew or curry. Sometimes it is served with sugar or condensed milk.

Roti is generally consumed as breakfast or as supper (the fourth meal of the day, generally eaten after nightfall).

With the growing affluence of Malaysia, plain roti has been improved on. Generally the newer forms of roti are denoted by using a prefix of roti attached to the additional ingredient used. Bread with banana (pisang) is called roti pisang, similarly bread with egg (telur) is called roti telur. Other variations include roti tisu (tissue bread, a paper thin and flaky roti), roti jala (net bread, a latticed roti) and roti bom (bomb bread, a smaller but thicker roti).