Roti John

It's really hard to find a good Roti John nowadays and in Thailand, probably non-existent. This dish was created in Singapore in the 70s and is still popular throughout Singapore & Malaysia today. One of the best Roti Johns were served up in a hawker centre at the Botanical Gardens eons ago. It is now no longer there, but plenty more sprung up in other places. Sad to say, I haven't found any good Roti Johns to rave about. So I have been making them at home, accompanied with my very own home-made chilli sauce, for a simple, yet enjoyable meal.



Ingredients:

• 100g minced beef
• 1 onion - chopped
• 2 green chillies - sliced
• 3 tbsp paprika sauce
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 3 eggs
• 1 baguette
• 10-15 pieces dried chillies
• 1/2 lime
• pepper, sugar and salt to taste
• some butter

Method:

1. Heat up woke with about 2 tablespoonful of oil. Fry onions, green chillies till browned and add in minced beef
2. When meat turned slightly brown, add paprika, coriander, salt and pepper to taste
3. Fry them all for a little bit more and set aside
4. Separately, beat the eggs and then mix in the fried minced beef into it
5. Slice the baguette into pieces and smear ingredients in #4 onto the white side of the bread
6. Heat up the pan and add some butter when hot.
7. Pan fry the bread the meat face down onto the pan. Flip the bread to brown the other side. Then turn it back again and press down the pan to squeeze out any leftover eggs on the bread. Repeat till all meat ingredients and bread are used up
8. To make the chilli sauce, cut up the dried chillies and soak in hot water for about 10 minutes and drain.
9. Blend in the chillies with a little bit of water
10. Heat up a deep pan with 1 teaspoonful of oil. When hot, add in the blended chillies
11. Stir occasionally to prevent the chillies from drying out or burnt. Add some water if it becomes too dry
12. Squeeze the lime juice and add into the liquid.
13. Occasionally stir until the chilli gives out a very deep red colour
14. Add sugar and salt to taste. Add more sugar if you prefer it to be sweeter to tone down the spiciness of the chillies
15. Pop the roti in the oven for a few minutes before serving it with chilli sauce so the bread would be more crispy than chewy.

You can also eat it with mayonnaise in addition to the chilli sauce.