My Cookery Page

If you find this recipe name to be strange, believe me, so do I.  It is especially so because it is an Asian recipe and John is certainly not an Asian name.   This simple and delicious bread and meat dish is popular in Singapore and Malaysia, I see them all the time at the stalls.  Then it occurred to me that  people eat this outside all the time they may have forgotten that they can do this at home and it costs next to nothing.   I’d like to introduce this recipe to those who would like to try a local dish with a Western name, lol

And why the name John??   The popular theory is that this was named after a Caucasian named John who came looking for sandwich and since none was found, one was created for him!  So there you go, Roti John story!  Roti is Malay word for bread.

This recipe is my own simple version and pretty much represents the real thing.

Ingredients:  French loaf (this can be sliced any ways you want, I would slice about an inch thick but at the stalls, the loaf is sliced in the middle and then further quartered).

Minced meat, salt, pepper, large onions cubed, eggs.  (How much of this is up to you, I would start with one or two onions, maybe two large eggs, enough minced meat to cover the top of the loaf).

Method:  Fry the minced meat with some curry powder in a pan till it is cooked and dried.  Mix it with the rest of ingredients and beat the eggs into the mixture.  Heat up a flat pan with a bit of oil.  Take a piece of the sliced loaf,  scoop spoonfuls of egg and meat mixture on to the top of the loaf.  Carefully and quickly turn it over the hot pan and fry over low heat.  When one side is done, turn the other side and cook for a while.  Repeat till all the loaf is used up or till the mixture is finished.

You can tell it is cooked when you turn it over and see that the egg is cooked.   Best eaten with the following sauce:

To make the sauce, you will need chilli powder, tomato sauce, water, salt, vinegar and sugar - cook them together till it simmers.  Estimate the use of ingredients according to your taste buds.