Roti john


Roti john is an omelette sandwich dish originating from Maritime Southeast Asia and is popular in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia as street food.

Origin

Roti is the Hindi, Urdu and Malay word for bread, and more generally for any bread-based or bread-like food, including sandwiches and pancakes. The origin of john within the name of the dish has not been definitively proven, but may derive from British use of the first name John to address any male person, especially when that person's first name is unknown, difficult to remember or difficult to pronounce, thus a name that may have been used by British armed forces members to address native vendors in Malaysia or vice versa. Oral sources have claimed that the dish and name originated in Singapore in the early 1970s.

Ingredients

The sandwich is made with a baguette-type loaf with a fried filling of egg, minced meat, and onion, served with tomato-chilli sauce.

Preparation and presentation

The minced meat, egg and chopped onion mixture is poured into a frying pan and then split long, soft rolls are pressed into the mixture. When the egg is set, the whole roll is then flipped over to toast the other side. The roti is lifted onto a plate, liberally spread with salad, chilli sauce and mayonnaise, before being cut into portions. A variant is to place the minced meat, onions and sauce inside the baguette, dip the baguette into beaten egg, and then fry the whole in a frying pan.
Variants may use additional or alternative ingredients such as beef, mutton and sardines.