Now you've met John Wang, founder of Queens Night Market, join us for a follow up featuring an inside look at The World Eats Here — the official cookbook featuring recipes and stories from 50+ QNM vendors. And follow along as one of the market vendors, Amy Pryke from Native Noodle shows us how to make Singaporean Roti John.
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Roti John
Omelet Sandwiches from Amy Pryke of Native Noodles
Singapore, Makes 1 serving
Roti means bread in Hindi, and John was a common form of address for any Caucasian man in Singapore. Roti John embodies the melting-pot cuisine of Singapore. It is a toasty sandwich of minced meat and onions, wrapped in eggs, and slathered with a ketchup-based sauce. Amy considers it the perfect breakfast sandwich, although you can enjoy it anytime you feel like having an indulgent sandwich.
Ingredients:
Spicy Ketchup
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons sriracha
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Roti John
- 1⁄3 large baguette or 1 hero roll (about 8 inches/20 cm long)
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon canola or grapeseed oil
- 4 ounces (110 g) minced lamb, beef, or beef/ lamb mix
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ small white or yellow onion, sliced
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon sambal oelek chili paste
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Pinch of ground black pepper
Directions:
- To make the spicy ketchup, combine the ketchup, sriracha, and sugar with 2 tablespoons water in a bowl and set aside.
- To make the roti John, split the bread lengthwise but do not cut all the way through, leaving a small hinge like a hot dog bun. Lightly oil a nonstick skillet with 1 teaspoon of the oil and toast the inside of the baguette by pressing down with a spatula until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. You can also toast the bread in your oven for 2 minutes on the broiler setting.
- Combine the meat and cumin in a bowl and set aside.
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in the skillet over medium heat and fry the garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the onions and cook over low heat until translucent, about 6 minutes. Turn the heat to medium. Add the meat and stir-fry until cooked through, about 6 minutes.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl, beat lightly, then add the sambal oelek, salt, and pepper, and mix well.
- Pour the eggs into the skillet, covering the meat. When the edges of the egg just start to firm up, after about 30 seconds, press the bread face-down lightly onto the mixture with a spatula for 2 to 3 minutes as the eggs continue to cook. The bread will absorb much of the egg mixture.
- Flip the bread along with the omelet with a spatula and cook for about 1 minute. If the eggs are not cooked to desired doneness, flip the baguette back and cook until done.
- Transfer to a plate and spread some ketchup in the center. Close the sandwich, slice into four pieces, and serve.
Recipe from Amy Pryke, Native Noodles. Excerpted from The World Eats Here: Amazing Food and the Inspiring People Who Make It at New York’s Queens Night Market, © 2020 by John Wang and Storm Garner. Photographs © by John Taggart. Reprinted by permission of The Experiment. Available wherever books are sold. experimentpublishing.com
