Best Ever Roti – Salomi – Vetkoek – Oliebollen – Curry Bunny or Donuts with curry mince filling
Malay Rotis – My go-to recipe I have been using all my years! Delicious with a curry mince filling instead of rice (Makes 7 – 8)
Malay Rotis (Recipe 1 Makes 7 – 8 Rotis )
May be served as a
A roti is unleavened bread made from flour & is served instead of rice, with chutney. A roti rolled around a curry mince filling is known as a salomi which is a traditional Cape Malay fast food in South Africa. This recipe is from the book, “Cape Malay Cooking” by Faldela Williams. I have converted the original recipe (Recipe 1) to include the 50 g self-raising flour in the cake flour.
Note: Smear ghee/butter/oil/chicken schmaltz onto roti lightly dusted flour and then fold in half – Repeat procedure and fold in half then carefully roll out into a circle. I find this way it creates more flaky layers than the other method.
Ingredients: (Recipe 1 – Instant Roti)
400 g (800 ml) cake flour
Pinch baking powder (Optional)
3 ml – 5 ml (1.5 g) salt
45 ml oil or softened butter
250 ml of cold water
50 g (100 ml) cake flour
50 ml melted butter mixed with 50 ml oil
90 g butter
Ingredients: (Recipe 2 – Yeast Roti) – 65 % water is the perfect ratio to flour
270 g (135 ml) bread flour
4 g salt
10 ml of butter
176 ml/g of boiling hot water
6 g yeast (optional)
Method: (Recipe 2 – Yeast Roti)
Add unsifted flour together with salt to the bowl. Boil water and butter. Pour on boiling water, and butter mixture, and bring together with dough hooks into a smooth ball. Knead in your yeast, once your dough reaches body temperature. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest 30 minutes before unrolling and follow the below method.
Method: (Recipe 1 – Instant Roti)
Combine flour & salt in a bowl. Add oil or butter, rubbing it into flour to form a crumbly mixture. Add water & mix into a soft dough. Knead, adding more flour if required to make an even-textured pliable dough. Leave covered, to rest for 30 minutes. Divide dough into 7 – 8 pieces. Roll each out onto a very lightly floured surface, into a circle of 20 cm in diameter. Dot with 15 ml butter, and sprinkle with flour. Roll & stretch into thick ropes of dough (See my original handwritten draft here). Roll up both ends of the ropes; one side clockwise & the other side anticlockwise, folding one half, flat on top of the other. Rotis may be frozen at this stage, interleaved with plastic film. Allow resting, covered, for about 1 hour. Roll out on a lightly floured surface into circles of about 20 cm in diameter. Heat a heavy-based frying pan or an electric frying pan & fry rotis one at a time, turning occasionally, brushing with melted butter & oil mixture using about 10 ml for each one. Fry until golden. Remove from the pan, and pat between your palms to fluff up their surface. Serve & enjoy!
Mild Curry Mince:
Filling for your Vetkoek (Oliebollen) – Which goes "extremely" well with this curry mince filling – A South African street food that is very popular on snack platters, or served as miniature "vetkoekies " (a fried bun or dinner-sized roll with a pocket cut into it, into which you spoon your delish curry mince filling. Totally addictive !! 
Curry Mince - filling:
An absolute winner among both kids and adults! Try it – I’m sure you will love it and it will become your firm favorite!
Ingredients:
1 large onion or 2 small onions (chopped)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
350 to 400-gram lean mince
1 ½ teaspoon (7 ml) ginger
2 teaspoons (10 ml) brown sugar
1 teaspoon (5 ml) mild curry powder (If you don’t have & usually I don’t. I always replace it with a mixture, of chili & turmeric powder together with a sprinkling of jeera/cumin & some curry leaves)
1 ½ teaspoon (7 ml) turmeric
¾ teaspoon (4 ml) salt
Dash of pepper
1 tablespoon butter (I usually use half butter to oil)
25 ml (2 tablespoons) chutney (Not to overpower I use a mild peach chutney)
2 teaspoons (10 ml) apricot jam
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vinegar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) Worcester sauce
2 teaspoons (10 ml) tomato paste (I prefer tomato puree or real freshly stewed tomatoes)
1 peeled potato (cubed)
Note:
Brown your meat first, remove it, and set it aside. Continue with the recipe – adding back your mince when your garlic, ginger, and onions have softened.
Method 1: (Mine)
I stamp garlic & ginger to a paste together with salt in a pan or you may roughly chop it straight into your food processor, with its metal blade attached, in the following order: Ginger, garlic, and onions - now puree it.
Saute onion-garlic mixture in half oil to butter, simmering until translucent.
Now mash in your mince breaking it up with a potato masher, followed by adding the balance of your ingredients together with a little water – just enough to prevent it from drying out.
Add your pre-cooked, cubed steamed potatoes toward the end.
Method 2:
Heat spices gently in a heavy saucepan.
Add the butter, oil, and onion, garlic, and ginger – Saute until softened.
Add mince, sultanas, chutney, apricot jam, vinegar, Worcester sauce, and tomato paste.
Lastly, add your cubed potato. Simmer, covered, at least ½ hour or until done. – Enjoy!
THE RECIPE FOR VETKOEK~ IS LOVELY!! Makes 8 hamburger-bun-sized Vetkoek or Donuts
Remember your 1st rise is always your best rise! So knead the dough very well beforehand. I always give 1 rise but remember - knead VERY well.
Ingredients:
25 ml (20 g) instant yeast - or - x2 (10 g) sachets
20 ml castor sugar
300 ml lukewarm body temperature water (no hotter or you will kill your yeast!)
800 ml cake flour (measured as unsifted)
15 ml sunflower oil
7.5 ml of salt
·
Method:
Preheat the oven to 250 C (500 F) if you are weight watching & choose to bake them rather than deep-fry them. In this case, they will become pita bread instead.
Mix the yeast, sugar, and water.
Add 250 ml of the flour sifted in.
Leave in a warm place until doubled in size. ( I usually put it in the oven on a berg or warm wind condition, no more than 27 C, covered with a damp cloth)· Temperature must not get any hotter or you risk killing your yeast activation.
Sift in the remaining flour
Add remaining ingredients and knead well.
Cover and leave until doubled in bulk.
Knock back lightly and cut into 8 equal pieces.
Shape each piece into a 150 mm diameter circle.
Place on a floured baking sheet and leave until doubled in bulk.
Recipe for Vetkoek (Deep Fried Bread)
To make Vetkoek:
Deep-fry at 160 C. Remove once golden brown and done. Do not add too much to the oil or your temperature will drop, causing them to suck in the oil. ( Best is an oil temperature thermometer unless you have a deep fat fryer or are good at frying).
Drain, once done.
Cut a pocket in Vetkoek and fill it with curry mince.
You now have what is known as a Curry Bunny in South Africa.
If you are watching your weight: ·
Bake for 5-10 minutes, until a pale straw color.·
Place on a wire rack, and cover with a clean tea towel to cool.·
Cut off the top third of each pita bread and fill the hollow with your favorite filling and sauce.
Dough may also be used to make 1 large and 1 medium pizza, although it is not the correct pizza dough (See, in my notes for the real one)… or you may bake 1 large loaf of bread and 3 mini loaves.
Below – Is the 2nd method or technique for rolling out your Rotis : This method does not seem to create as much flakiness in the layers as the 1st.
The 2nd method is to roll out the dough into a circle, and then roll it up into a rope and continue as below
Fold one half flat on top of the other equally and then roll out into a circle.
The same recipe makes the most wonderful donuts too!
Enjoy!