Roti john

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Roti John, essentially an omelette sandwich, is a popular Malay breakfast and snack item in Malaysia and Singapore. The ingredients include minced mutton, onion, egg, tomato-chilli sauce and a baguette loaf. The mutton mince, egg and chopped onions are fried on a skillet and then placed into the cavity of a baguette halved lengthwise. The whole is then briefly pan-fried on the skillet and then served after being cut into several portions. A variant is to place the minced mutton, onions and sauce inside the baguette, then baguette dipped into beaten egg, and the whole then panfried on the skillet.

'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 the 'John' in the name is allegedly due to the Western origin of the Baguette and the tomato sauce used in the dish. During the years of British Colonial rule, all Caucasians and Westerners were colloquially and affectionately referred to as 'John' in Malay, and as such, the nickname of 'Roti John' (literally 'John Bread') was easily arrived at.