Simple Homemade Roti John (2024)

Try this Simple Homemade Roti John, an easy sandwich recipe with eggs, onions and minced beef as its filling. Perfect as an appetizer or even a snack.

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Welcome to Day 5 of my Ramadan Series! Today we’re circling back to one of the most popular street food that’s always guaranteed a spot in every Ramadan Bazaar you see in Malaysia — the mouthwatering Roti John.

Often times you might even find more than one stall selling it because you never go wrong with a good roti john.

It is also a well-loved street food in Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia.

What Is Roti John?

A sandwich with a filling of seasoned diced onions, ground beef, eggs and shredded cabbage served on oblong-style buns (think baguette length), drenched in sweet and spicy sauce. But using hotdog buns would suffice just fine (which is what I use!). It’s something like our own version of sloppy joe.

There are now plenty of roti john variations, with fillings such as (ground) chicken, sardines, sausages, cheese, or even just eggs! You can also tailor the sauces that you’d be using up to your liking.

Though a lot of us divide it up and treat it as a sharing platter, there’s nothing stopping you from having one all on your own. 😉

Ingredients You’ll Need

(For full ingredient measurements, please proceed to the recipe card below.)

Meat Egg Mixture

• Onions
• Ground beef: You can substitute this with any meat that you’d like.
• Curry powder
• Cumin
• Salt
• Sugar
• Paprika
• Eggs

Other Ingredients

• Hotdog buns
• Japanese mayonaise
• Sriracha/Chili sauce
• Shredded cabbage
• Sliced cheese(optional)

How To Make Easy Simple Homemade Roti John

Meat mixture

1. Sauté onions until onion is translucent over medium heat.
2. Add the ground meat and the seasonings.
3. Break up the ground meat and stir occasionally until the meat is cooked.
4. Turn off heat and let it cool. Once it’s cooled down, break eggs into the same pan and stir until well combined.

Toasting Hotdog Buns

1. Spread a layer of Japanese mayo to the inside of the hotdog buns.
2. In a clean frying pan, melt butter with oil over medium heat.
3. Once the butter melts and the pan is hot enough, add the hotdog buns (inside side down) until it’s toasted and then remove from the pan.

Roti John

1. In the same pan with heat over medium low, add 1/4-1/2 cup of the meat egg mixture in the size of the hotdog buns (See notes).
2. If you want, add a slice of cheese on top.
3. Add the hotdog bun on top (inside side down) and press down with you spatula. Leave for 2-4 minutes or until the bottom is cooked.
4. Flip over carefully and press down with a spatula. Let it cook for another 1-2 minutes before removing from the pan.
5. Add shredded cabbage and squeeze a generous amount of Japanese mayo and Sriracha/chili sauce all over (see notes).
6. Bring one side of the hotdog bun over the other and gently press down.
7. Slice in half and serve while hot. Enjoy!

Notes For Simple Homemade Roti John

• Add a bit of oil or butter to the pan if you are not using a non-stick pan.
• It’s important that amount of meat egg mixture poured into the pan is not too much or not that much bigger than the hotdog buns as it will be harder to flip over and might fall apart.
• If it seems like the meat egg mixture will fall apart as you are about to flip it, let it cook for another minute.
• Use two spatulas for easier flipping.
• Feel free to use any sauce you want. Some suggestions: spicy mayo sauce, bang bang sauce, sweet chili sauce, barbecue sauce.

More Savory Appetizers

• Murtabak Maggi (Savory Ramen Pancake)
• Fried King Oyster Mushroom Bites (Vegan)
• Rice Paper Dumplings (Gluten-Free)
• Spicy Salmon Mini Taco

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