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Ramly burger /rahm-lee, ˈrɑmliː/ n. [f. the name of Ramly bin Mokni who first sold burgers made from a family recipe in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1979 and who, with Shala Siah binte Abdul Manap, incorporated Ramly Food Processing Sdn. Bhd., a Malaysian company producing meat and seafood products under the ‘Ramly’ brand name, in 1984 + Eng. burger] Also burger Ramly.  A hamburger made with a (proprietary brand of) patty of seasoned minced meat or seafood, which is often fried with additional seasonings such as curry powder, oyster sauce, pepper or sweet soya sauce, and which may be enclosed in a layer of fried egg. The burger is usually topped with fried onions and other vegetables such as sliced cucumber and shredded cabbage and carrot, and condiments such as chilli sauce and mayonnaise.
2004 Arlina Arshad The Sunday Times, 11 January. “This is one HOT burger: Vendors here risk jail and fine – to sneak Ramly burgers across the Causeway and hawk them to Singaporeans. The lip-smacking lure: its spicy ‘Asian taste’ ” [title]. Move over, McDonald’s and Burger King. Burger Ramly fever has crossed the Causeway and hit town. Singaporeans rave about its spicy ‘Asian taste’, and at almost every pasar malam, vendors hawk the popular Malaysian chicken and beef patties – risking jail and fine from the authorities for sneaking them in. .. With a sparkle in her eyes, sales assistant Serene Lim, 32, who was spotted buying 10 Ramly burgers from a Sengkang bazaar stall, gushed: ‘The buns are soft, and the meat patty is tender and full of flavour. Very fattening, very sinful, but very delicious!’ .. How to cook the Burger Ramly Special [heading]. Preparing the patty: • Melt margarine on a hotplate. / • Fry chopped onions and place the beef or chicken patty on top. / • Different stalls use different seasonings for flavour. These include fish or chicken curry powder, oyster sauce, Maggi seasoning, sweet soya sauce, mayonnaise or pepper. / • Slice the half-cooked patty into half its thickness and cook the inner sides. / • For an egg-wrapped Burger Ramly Special, break an egg and spread it into a thin layer the size of a plate. / • Place patty in the middle and fold the egg over it on four sides. / Preparing the bun: • Slice a hamburger bun into half, coat each side with margarine and toast the two halves on a hotplate. / • The typical Western burger is garnished with lettuce and tomato. Use sliced cucumbers, shredded cabbage and carrot for a Ramly burger. Cheese is optional. / • Top up with sweet chilli sauce and mayonnaise. / Burger Ramly started out as a small family business operated from a mobile kiosk on Lorong Haji Hussin in Kuala Lumpur in 1979. The special family recipe was cooked up by Mr Ramly Moknin [sic: Mokni], then 27. It soon became a hit among Malaysians. Mr Ramly, now 52, set up his first factory, Ramly Food Processing, at Bandar Tun Razak in 1984. A second one, at the Batu Caves, was set up in 2000. Ramly’s spokesman told The Sunday Times that the company’s processed products, including burger patties, nuggets and frankfurters, raked in RM60 million (S$28 million) last year. Patty sales make up 60 per cent of the company’s profits.  2005 Zul Othman (quoting Sharon Wong) Today (from Todayonline.com), 15 October. Events manager Sharon Wong, 28, was spotted buying five Ramly burgers from a stall at the old Singapura cinema. She gushed: “The buns are soft and the meat is tender and full of flavour. I know it’s very fattening but you can’t get this type of food, in this atmosphere, anywhere else. They’re delicious!”

range n. [Eng. range n. a place or piece of ground having a target and other fittings, used for practice in shooting] mil.  A target practice session.

red bean n. [Eng. transl. of Mand. 红豆 hóngdòu: hóng red + dòu legume, pulse, bean, pea; or cognates in other Chi. dialects]  The dark red edible bean of the adzuki (Vigna angularis), an annual leguminous plant, which is cultivated in China and Japan.  Compare Green Bean.
1859 Andrew Steinmetz Japan and Her People, vol. 1, ch. 6, 273 Mixed with boiled rice and adsuki, or red beans, coarsely powdered.  2006 Kuek Lin The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 17 September. The red bean paste is flavoured with orange peel from China and tastes surprisingly light, given its density. The refreshing red bean with ice cream is good value for money.

Comb.: red bean soup n. [Eng. transl. of Mand. 红豆汤 hóngdòu tāng: tāng soup, broth]  A hot or cold Chinese dessert consisting of red beans boiled in a sugar syrup till soft.  Compare Green Bean Soup.
2005 Teo Pau Lin The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 1 October. You’re seated in a swanky ballroom, ready for a three-hour wedding feast, but don’t bother reading the menu. Because if it’s a Chinese banquet, you’ll know what’s ahead. It starts off with a cold platter of char siew, roast duck, jellyfish and mini octopus. Then it’s the shark’s fin soup, followed by the braised sea cucumber, the sauteed prawns and the roasted crispy chicken. Next is the steamed fish, the stewed vegetables, the noodles, and finally, the red bean soup dessert. Chinese wedding menus are so predictable these days you can recite them backwards.  2006 Kuek Lin The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 17 September. [R]ed bean soup, milk pudding, sweet potato soup, and thick, silky creams made from ground peanut, walnut or sesame seed.  2007 Foong Woei Wan The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 9 September, L29 .. I loved my red bean cream with lotus seeds.., which had a fragrant whiff of preserved fruit peel - a truly Cantonese touch.  2007 Foong Woei Wan The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 18 November. .. I like the red bean soup, which is deliciously thick with jelly-like sago seeds and crunchy bits of corn.

relak /ree-lak, riːˈlak̚/ v. [< Eng. relax] Mal. slang  Relax.
2004 Arlina Arshad The Straits Times, 23 March, H6 [title] Relak! Flood-prone Kampung Lorong Buang Kok’s laid-back lifestyle draws former residents and a stream of visitors.

Phrase: relak one corner [Eng.]  Relax a little.
1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 relak one corner – relax a little.

remisier /ree-mı-ziə, rɪˈmʌɪzɪə/ n. [< Eng. remise in law: to give up, surrender, make over to another, release (any right, property, etc.)]  A self-employed person affiliated with a stockbroking company who buys and sells shares on behalf of clients.
1926 The Straits Times, 6 July, 10 Mr. A. M. Jenkins, who said he was a “Remisier” for the plaintiff, stated that he had known Mr. Williams for about eight years and called upon him in March. He said he was employed by Mr. Levinstein, and suggested that the defendant should give any business that he was doing in shares to the Midland Investment Company, as he (witness) would get half commission. Witness then told Mr. Williams that he would not do himself much harm if he bought some Insulinde shares. Mr. Williams thought a little while and said, “Very well, I will give you an order for 500.”  1992 Walter Woon Singapore Academy of Law Journal, vol. 4, 346 The legal position of a remisier .. A remisier is basically a self-employed person whose job is to buy and sell shares on behalf of clients. Remisiers function at the retail end of the market. They do not get CPF contributions from any employer, even though they are affiliated to stockbroking companies. They are not in any sense employed by the stockbroking companies. Rather, they are allowed to use the facilities of the stockbroking companies, in return for payment of a fee. A remisier is remunerated through commission on transactions, a proportion of which is taken by the stockbroking firm for the privilege of using their facilities. As far as the remisier is concerned, the people who trade through him are his clients, not the firm’s.  2006 Elena Chong The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 17 February. A remisier who used his clients’ trading accounts illegally to buy shares was jailed for four months yesterday. .. Toh, employed as a remisier by UOB Kay Hian at the time of the offences, bought 100,000 CAO [China Aviation Oil] shares through the account of Mr Toh Boon Leong and another 80,000 CAO shares in Madam Thin Chwee Yim’s account without the clients’ permission.  2013 Goh Eng Yeow The Straits Times, 29 April, B10 Remisiers are self-employed agents attached to broking houses who get a 40 per cent share of the commission levied on the trades executed by their clients.

rempah /rəm-pah, ˈrəmpɑː/ n. [Mal.]  Esp. in Malay and Peranakan cooking: a mixture of ground spices that is used in the cooking of a dish (particularly a curry) to flavour it.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 962 rěmpah. .. Ingredient; component part. Esp.: .. the spices that are cooked in a curry to flavour it (r.-r., r.-pawah, r. pěrewah, r. pěrawis, r.-piah); cf. kědai Kěling měnjual r. = a Tamil shop selling curry-stuff; Sing. Terb. [Shaer Singapura Tebakar (Singapore)] 13.  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 293 rěmpah, spices for curry..]  2006 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Benjamin Seck) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 31 December, L28 What is the most laborious dish to prepare in Peranakan cuisine? / Ayam buah keluak (chicken with Indonesian black nut). The rempah (pounded spices) alone is made of seven ingredients and takes half a day to fry. .. What’s the most vivid childhood memory you have of food? / Helping my grandmother pound rempah. You have to pound without making any noise. If you’re noisy, it shows you’re not refined and not taught well. You have to pound on the ingredients without hitting the sides of the mortar, and not hit too hard.  2008 Huang Lijie (quoting Darcy Thong) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 23 November, 28 Patience. It plays a big part in Peranakan cooking. You can’t hurry when you fry the rempah (a spice paste commonly used in Peranakan cooking). You need to wait for the flavour and aroma of the spices to be released during cooking for the dish to be fragrant.  2009 Chris Tan The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 18 October, 23 Hainanese curry rempahs (spice pastes) tend to have a stronger emphasis on sweet and aromatic spices such as coriander, fennel, cinnamon, nutmeg and star anise, and often use less chilli powder or paste than Indian, Malay or Peranakan curries.

rendang /rən-dahng, ˈrəndɑŋ/ n. & a. [Mal., rendang, merendang fry in a little oil or fat until dry]  A n. A Malay dish consisting of meat (esp. beef) with a sauce that has been roasted or fried until fairly dry.  B a. Of a dish or a type of meat: cooked in a rendang style.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 964 rěndang. Cooking in nothing more than a little oil or fat; roasting; frying; cf. goreng. R. [Rendang] pědas: dry-currying (Ht. Bugis [Silasilah Melayu dan Bugis (Singapore, a.h. 1329 [1911])] 148); = «devilling». Pisang r.: banana fritter. Měrěndang implies the use of a cooking-pot (Ind. Meng. [Hikayat Indera Mengindera, manuscript, Cambridge], Kumb. Chumb. [Shaer Kumbang Chumbuan (Singapore)] 24) and does not cover toasting (panggang) or baking in ashes (běmbam) or roasting on a spit (pachak). It is used in contr. to gulai (cooking in a rich sauce; wet-currying). Whatever oil is used in měrěndang should be used up, leaving a dry food.  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 294 rěndang (mě), P. [Penang], fry (fish, meat, bananas, maize) in a little coconut milk till dry]  A 2000 Arlina Arshad The Straits Times, 27 December, H8 Ketupat, or rice cakes, satay, lontong, rendang (meat), sambal goreng (mixed vegetables) and serunding (spiced grated coconut) are typical dishes served on this day [Hari Raya Puasa].  2006 Eveline Gan Weekend Today, 22–23 July, 23 Even if you don’t fancy spicy food, the rendang is worth a try. Rest assured that the Lee’s [sic] slightly sweet rendang gravy is not mouth-numbing spicy.

Comb.: Beef Rendang

reservist n. [< Eng. reservist a member of a military reserve force] mil. slang  Training required to be performed by military reservists.
2004 ‘Mr Brown’ (Lee Kin Mun) Weekend Today, 24–25 April, 20 Eh, Lee! Long time no see! You got go back for reservist or not?

rice bowl n. [Eng. transl. of Mand. 饭碗 fànwǎn: rice bowl; job, means of livelihood: fàn cooked rice or other cereals + wǎn bowl (Chi.–Eng. Dict.); or cognates in other Chi. dialects]  A person’s livelihood.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 122 Just before enlistment, Kai Seng was working as a rattan-worker and being paid about $7 to $8 per day. “The pay was good,” he said: apparently this reason underscored Kai Seng’s remark that NS [National Service] “breaks my rice-bowl”.  311 rice bowl The source of one’s survival. A common saying is “I have to watch my rice bowl”, made by an officer as a declaration of his unwillingness to help his colleagues or subordinates in the slightest way that may put his career in jeopardy. Where it is insidious is not in its articulation by certain people, which is infrequent, but in its embodiment in the outlook of the ordinary Singaporean, which is becoming pervasive.  2006 Neil Humphreys Final Notes from a Great Island 65 Subsequent stories hinted that one or two NKF employees had been concerned for some time that extravagant spending was going on unchecked, in high places, but had opted to say nothing for fear of the repercussions their allegations might have had on their “rice bowl”.  2006 Reme Ahmad (quoting Mahathir Mohamad) The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 23 September. Don’t be like that, Kuan Yew! You just look after your rice bowl, that is all. The country is tiny, don’t be too proud..  2006 Ho Ai Li & Susan Long The Straits Times (Saturday), 16 December, S4 Don’t knock us, our rice bowls are not iron [title]  2007 Sarah Ng The Sunday Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 14 January. Singaporeans oppose an open-door policy towards foreign workers and talent chiefly because they fear that their rice bowl could be broken, not because they are concerned about foreigners fitting into Singapore society.

Phrase: Iron Rice Bowl.

rickshaw noodles n. [Eng.]  See quot. 2003.
2003 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times, 5 October, L41 Rickshaw noodles.. This simple noodle concoction is what rickshaw and trishaw drivers used to slurp down between shifts. .. [I]t is nothing more than thick yellow noodles, vegetables and dried shrimps in clear soup.

ROD /ahr oh dee, ɑːr aʊ diː/ n. & v. [abbrev. of r(un-o(ut d(ate] mil.  A n. The date on which a national serviceman completes his two (for some, formerly two-and-a-half) years of full-time national service.  Known with effect from 1 January 1994 as ORD.  B v. Complete serving full-time national service.
A 1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 63 For five months since his ROD, Poh Hock had obtained only fitful work as a casual stevedore.  311 ROD. Run-out-date. On his first day, every soldier is told of the exact date on which he will leave the Army, signalling the happy completion of 2-2½ years of his NS stint. For a soldier, his ROD is an emotional event: the few weeks (and in some cases, the few months) preceding it have been known to induce euphoria or high fever during which the mind switches off, and productivity plunges. Dreaded by commanders. To soldiers it’s as good as liberation. And for some long-waiting, long-suffering girls, no greater heart-throbbing event is there than on receiving their fiance’s announcement: ‘My ROD is coming up!’  1981 Dr Chau Sik Ting Parliamentary Debates: Official Report, 20 March, vol. 40, col. 967 .. I am aware that quite a number of them, after their ROD, do have noise-induced deafness. As to why they get it, I am not here to explain. However, I think it has got something to do with their training.  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 48 ROD. Run-out date. The date upon which NS men complete their army stint.  B 2004 ‘Mr Brown’ (Lee Kin Mun) Weekend Today, 24–25 April, 20 Even when you leave active service, or ROD (I know they call it ORD now, but as far as my generation is concerned, it will always be ROD. ROD forever! Woohoo!) and enter the civilian world, former platoon mates will still call you by your surname.

Comb.: ROD mood n. [Eng.] Also ellipt. mood.  A feeling of cheerfulness and disinclination to work, supposed to set in once a soldier’s ROD approaches.
1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 48 ROD mood. Feeling of euphoria that overcomes most NS men when they feel freedom is near. Symptoms are a marked decrease in kia su-ness. Some soldiers are possessed by the ROD mood from the day of their enlistment.

rojak /roh-jahk, roˈdʒɑk̚/ n. & a. [Mal. < Jav. rudjak sliced fruits in a peppery sauce (Horne)]  A n. 1 A Malay salad-like dish containing cucumber, beancurd, etc., with a dressing of a sweet black sauce, prawn paste and chopped peanuts.  2 fig. An untidy mixture of things; a mess.  B a. Jumbled up, mixed up, messy, untidy.
A 1 [1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 978–979 rojak. .. Jav. [Javanese] A sort of fruit-salad; Ht. Sh, [Hikayat Sharkan, manuscript, Cambridge: a Panji tale]; Sid. Rama [Hikajat Siddha Rama (Batavia: Balai Poestaka)] 176 = chěnichah, chěcholek. It is made of fruit (unripe and uncooked) flavoured with red pepper, condiments (sambal) and sugar; if the fruit is cooked the salad is pinchok]  2005 Theresa Tan The Straits Times (Mind Your Body), 14 December, 15 Chicken rice ought to be crowned one of the seven food wonders of Singapore, along with laksa, dry mee pok, chilli crab, satay, rojak and cheng tng, in my opinion.  2006 Lydia Lim The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 3 March. When asked what they love about this country, or miss about it when overseas, many Singaporeans respond by reeling off a list of their favourite foods: chicken rice, chilli crab, rojak.  2 2001 Ong Soh Chin The Straits Times (Life!), 4 August, L4 I may look Chinese, but deep down inside, rest assured that my soul is one glorious rojak.  2013 Janadas Devan The Straits Times, 22 April, A18 Our ideal is rojak: the preservation of different flavours in a new concoction. We are one and many; many through one; one precisely because we accept our diversity.   B 2004 Leslie Lau The Straits Times, 4 May, A1 Uproar over rojak Malay.. Some government leaders are in a flap and language experts are upset over the increasing number of English words creeping into common usage in Malay. They have declared war on the use of rojak Malay, which incorporates a sprinkling of Chinese words, a dash of English and, for good measure, a tinge of Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia as well. .. An RTM official told The Straits Times: “We do not want the younger generation to be influenced by the wrong language. If they are, their thoughts will also be rojak and not clear.”  2005 Sharlene Tan (quoting John Ting) The Sunday Times, 24 April, 4 The design [of the house] seems to be a hodgepodge of different historical elements. At best, it could be called rojak.  2005 Cornelius Kan Wai-Chung Today, 18 November, 40 Our culture is one of hybridity and that “rojak-ness” is what truly defines us as Singaporean.  2006 Karamjit Kaur The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 6 March. Perhaps the problem is that Seletar [Camp] is a ‘rojak’ case, said an insider, with a mix of agencies having a hand in deciding what to do and when.  2011 Tan Weizhen (quoting Lim Swee Say) Today, 2 May, 18 When you have a coalition government, it will be like a plate of rojak. Everyone will put in their ideas and you are going to have a rojak government coming up with rojak policies. Your future will become a big plate of rojak..

Comb.: Indian Rojak

roti /roh-tee, ˈrotiː/ n. [Mal. (colloq.) bread, biscuit, cake (Wilkinson) < Hind. रोटी roṭī a bread-cake (McGregor) (according to NMS, the word is < Urdu روٹ roṭī a cake or bread, a loaf, food; sustenance; livelihood; روٹ roṭ a large loaf, a thick bread; a sweet cake offered to a god (Ferozsons); however, Ferozsons indicates that the Urdu word is < Hind.)]  1 Bread, including both Asian- and Western-style bread.  2 A bread-like cake or pastry: see the combination forms below.
1 [1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 984 roti. .. European bread, Ht. Abd. [Hikayat Abdullah] 222.]  2 [1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 984 roti. .. Etym. [Etymologically], = Indian wheaten cake; coll. = bread, biscuit, cake.]

Comb.:

roti canai /chah-nı, ˈtʃɑnʌɪ/ n. [poss. < Mal. chanai sharpen (knives); grind (gems); roll (pastry) (Winstedt); grinding down hard substances (Wilkinson) < Tam. சாணை cāṇai round flat cake made of jaggery, etc.; Tam. சாணைபிடி cāṇaipiṭi to grind, whet, sharpen, as a weapon (Tam. Lex.) < Skt. शाणा śāṇa a whetstone, grindstone; touchstone < Skt. शो śo to sharpen, whet; to pare, attenuate, make thin or small; compare Skt. शान śāna a touchstone; a whetstone, grindstone (Monier-Williams); or < Hind. छनना channā, colloq. to be fried (McGregor); or < Punj. ਰਣਾ chaná gram or chick-pea (Cicer arietinum) (Panj. Dict.) which, when cooked in a curry, is a common accompaniment for roti canai (NMS suggests that canai is a South Indian pea curry)]

[1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 270 pěrata, .. P. [Penang], pastry (roti chanai)]

The name for Roti Prata in Malaysia.
2013 Chris Tan The Sunday Times (SundayLife!), 8 December, 37 .. Fish Head Curry ($28 a claypot, additional charge for rice, toasts or roti canai on the side), which has sea bream stewed with tamarind, curry leaves, lady’s fingers, tomatoes and onions.

roti jala /jah-lah (-lə), ˈdʒɑlɑ, (-lə)/ n. [Mal. jala a casting-net for fishing (Wilkinson, Winstedt) < Hind. जाला jālā a web; Hind. जाल jāl a net; network, mesh; a web (McGregor) < Skt. जाल jāla a net (for catching birds, etc.); a web, a spider’s web, cobweb; net-work, any reticulated or woven texture; a wire net; Skt. जल् jal to be rich or wealthy; to cover, hide or veil; to cover as with a net, encompass (Monier-Williams)]  A type of Indian pancake made with coconut milk, eggs, flour, etc., which has a lacy appearance as the batter is trickled on to a pan greased with ghee using a perforated cup.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 984 R. [Roti] kirai, r. surai, r. jurai, r. jělurai, r. jala urai: shredded wheatmeal bread for eating with curried meats.  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 300 roti, .. bread; .. r. jurai Jo. [Johore], r. jala Jo., r. surai shredded wheatmeal pancake eaten with curried meat.]

roti john n. [Eng. John a male Christian name, said to be the name of the person who first ordered the dish, or used as an informal term of address for a Caucasian man not known to one: see quot. 2004; compare Eng. John used as a representative proper name for a footman, butler, waiter, messenger, or the like, and in other ways (OED)]  A Malay dish consisting of slices of a French bread loaf pan-fried with eggs and onions.
2001 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 8 April, P4 [Madam Noriani Shukor’s] father created the now famous roti john in the late 1970s, which has succulent eggs and onions grilled on French toast.  2004 ChennaiOnline, 2 July. The foreigners would always ask him [Shukor] to fry up an onion omelette, which they would eat with a side order of bread. They ate so much of it, and so often, that Shunkor [sic: Shukor] decided to create a “two-in-one” dish for them. He added the bread as the omelette was cooking, and the result was a delicious omelette-topped slab of French bread, which came with a special-chilli sauce. It went down well with the foreign clientele, and the locals, and Shukor needed a name for it. Since it had been created for foreigners, it was named after them too. “In those days, we addressed all ang mohs (foreigners) as John! John! So my father named this dish Roti John!” explained Norhayati, daughter of Shukor, who created Roti John in the 1970s.  2005 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 31 July. Norhayati Shukor’s father invented roti john in 1975 when the stall was located in Taman Serasi hawker centre, opposite the Botanic Gardens. The idea was to attract expatriates who lived in the nearby Cluny Road area, by pan-frying slices of French loaf with eggs and onions. But locals grew to love it instead. Since then, Norhayati, 37, and her brother have introduced chicken, beef and cheese to the dish to make it a more satisfying bite.

roti prata /prah-tah, ˈprɑtɑ/ n. [Mal. < Hind. पराठा parāthā] Also ellipt. Prata.  A round bread or cake of unleavened wheat flour fried in ghee or oil on a griddle, traditionally eaten with dhal (lentil) curry.
¶ Roti prata is commonly known in Malaysia as Roti Canai.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 885 Roti pěrata: an unleavened bread made of flour and ghee.]  2001 Neil Humphreys Notes from an Even Smaller Island 61 Roti prata, my own favourite Indian dish, is as simple as it is tasty. Looking a little like flat pancakes and slightly bigger than a compact disc, these flour creations are delightful for supper when they are drenched in curry.  2003 Sophie Campbell The Daily Telegraph (from Telegraph.co.uk), 5 July. .. Muslim Indian roti prata – glistening balls of dough twirled in the air, pizza-style, and griddled to crispy perfection..  2005 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Ryan Chioh) The Sunday Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 2 October. Your wife must have had food cravings when she was pregnant with your son. Did your diet have to change? .. I had to accommodate her whenever she had a craving for fishball kway teow soup, and it had to be from this coffee shop in Balestier Road. So even when I felt like having roti prata, baby and Mum had to come first, right?  2006 Andrea Ong The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 8 January, L34 Who would have thought that foodcourts could whip up such good roti prata?  2006 Sandra Leong The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 11 June. Health Promotion Board figures show that four in 10 Singaporeans eat roti prata at least once a week. An informal LifeStyle poll of six major prata players also revealed that each sells an average of 2,000 pratas a day, which means at least 12,000 pratas are being wolfed down daily.  2006 Wong Ah Yoke The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 2 July. Roti prata and nasi briyani are so ubiquitous in Singapore and Malaysia that one easily falls into the belief that they originated in this part of the world. But the fact is that both dishes were brought here from India by early immigrants. The versions that most Singaporeans are familiar with, however, are slightly different from what one finds in India today as the recipes evolved separately over the centuries. This bit of information was brought to my attention recently at a lunch at Spice Junction, a six-month-old restaurant in Race Course Road. The eatery specialises in food from Kerala, a state on the south-western coast of the sub-continent.. Take the prata, or parota ($1.70), as it is called here. It looks like what we know – a round and thin layered pancake, though it is not folded the way it is done here. It is also not at all oily. And you do not get a version with an egg cracked into it. Instead of being a meal on its own, it is eaten like a bread with other dishes.  2006 Anthony Bourdain New York Times Magazine (from Travel.nytimes.com), 24 September. I sampled roti prata kosong (plain Indian flatbread) and roti prata telur (stuffed with egg).

RSM’s hotel n. [abbrev. of R(egimental S(ergeant M(ajor] mil. slang  A detention barracks or cell in a military camp.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 311 RSM’s hotel. The unit detention cell.

†rubbish dump n. [Eng.] mil. slang  A military ration truck.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 311 rubbish dump. A ration truck. Analogy: a PWD [Public Works Department] rubbish truck.

rugi /roo-gee, ˈruːgiː/ v. [Mal., loss; injury (other than physical); tort (Wilkinson); financial loss, diminution of property or profits (Winstedt); compare berugi, merugi, kena rugi, kerugian to suffer loss (Wilkinson, Winstedt) < Skt. रुगऩ rugṇa broken, broken to pieces; thwarted, checked; bent, crooked, curved, injured; diseased, sick, infirm; रुज् ruj break, break open, break or dash to pieces, break down, destroy; bend; fracture; to pain, cause pain, injure, afflict with disease; pain, sickness, illness, disease; toil, fatigue, weariness, effort, trouble (Monier-Williams)]  Be disadvantaged, lose out.
1998 Leslie Koh The Straits Times, 22 December, 25 And the iron, it cost me $50 and I’ve used it just a few times. I got $20 for it, really rugi (Malay for lose).

runner n. [poss. < Eng. run into to dash into or collide with, esp. by accident (OED)] lawyers’ slang  A case involving a collision between motor vehicles, or between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian; a traffic accident case.