Preparation

• If you want to make your own rotis, it is best to prepare them in advance. This is a time-consuming job. Scroll down to learn how to make your own rotis.

• If you bought your (frozen) rotis at a toko, put them on a plate to thaw.

• Peel and quarter the potatoes.

• Chop the onion and chop the garlic as fine as possible.

• Cap the garter and cut into bite-sized pieces. Or even easier: buy the frozen sliced garter at the Asian supermarket!

• Grind the cumin seeds with a mortar. See tip from grandma below! (this is not necessary if you bought ground cumin seeds)

Step 1: Marinate the chicken

• Fill a bowl with the chicken drumsticks, masala, crumbled stock cubes, cumin powder, garlic and half the onion. Add some white pepper to taste.

• Mix the ingredients together (a real Surinamese does this by hand!).

• Let it marinate for a while so that the flavors are absorbed. The longer, the more flavorful the chicken.

Step 2: Fry the chicken

• Heat the sunflower oil over high heat. Put the marinated chicken drumsticks into the pan and brown all over.

• Lower the heat. Add the tomato paste and fry for 2 minutes.

• Deglaze with a cup of water. See tip of grandma below!

• Put the lid on the pan and let it simmer for about an hour. Turn over every now and then. For the most flavorful chicken, let it simmer for another hour. After this, the chicken is so tender that it falls off the bone by itself. Mmmmmm ...

(In the meantime, go to step 3, or wait another hour if you want to cook it longer)

Step 3: Boil the potatoes and eggs

• Bring a pan of plenty of water to a boil and add a little salt.

• Put the pieces of potato in the pan and cook for about 10 minutes. As soon as you can easily pierce the potatoes with your fork, they have been cooked long enough.

• Meanwhile, cook the eggs in a separate pan for 8 minutes.

• Drain both and set aside.

Step 4: Blanch and fry the long beans

• Bring a pan of water to a boil.

• Add the sliced garter and cook for 2 minutes.

• Drain the garter in a colander and keep it under the cold tap for a while (this will stop the cooking process immediately)

• Cut the tomatoes into small cubes.

• Heat a pan with olive oil and fry the remaining half of the onion, tomato and half a cube of crumbled chicken stock.

• Add the garter and fry for about 10 minutes on medium heat.

Step 5: add the potatoes and eggs (20 minutes before time)

• When the chicken has cooked for about 40 minutes, add the boiled potatoes.

• Turn over and fry with the chicken for 20 minutes.

• After 10 minutes also add the eggs.

• Cook without a lid for another 10 minutes to thicken the sauce.

Step 6: Prepare the roti

• Rotis from the toko: Heat the rotis for approx. 1 minute per roti in the microwave

• Homemade Rotis: Scroll down for the recipe.

Step 7: Serve!

• Put the chicken together with the potatoes, garter and one egg per person on a plate and serve with the rotis

• Serve it with sambal or read below how to easily make your own sambal

Optionally: Make a simple sambal

• You can easily make your own sambal. Mortar a madame jeanette, add a little bit of natural vinegar and your sambal is ready. Beware! This is very spicy.

Prepare your own rotis

Step 1: Prepare the dough

• Place the self-raising flour in a large bowl

• Make a well and add 100 ml of water and the sunflower oil

• Knead the dough mixture well into a soft and elastic dough ball. It took us about 20 minutes to do this ourselves.

• Add some extra water from time to time if the dough is too dry.

• Once the dough is soft and no longer sticky, moisten the dough with wet hands and place a tea towel over the bowl. Then let the dough rise for at least half an hour.

Step 2: Prepare the potato mixture

• Meanwhile, cook the potatoes until tender.

• Mash the potatoes

• Roast the cumin seeds briefly and crush them in a mortar

• Crush the garlic and add this together with the crushed cumin seeds and salt to the mashed potatoes

Step 3: Fill the dough with the potato mixture

• Cover your counter and your hands with some flour

• When the dough has risen for half an hour, divide it into small balls

• Flatten the balls and make a well

• Fill the dough ball with 1 tablespoon of the filling

• Fold the dough around the filling so that you don't see the filling anymore.

• Carefully roll out the ball into a round roti.

Step 4: Bake the roti plates

• Heat a little sunflower oil over high heat in a large frying pan or tawa (rotipan)

• Place your roti plate in the pan and grease the top with a little oil

• Turn the roti over and grease the other side with a little oil as well.

• Please note, the roti only needs to be baked briefly. No black spots should arise.

• Cover the rotis on a plate with a damp tea towel so that the roti softens slightly.

Step 5: Serve the roti with the chicken, garter and potatoes.

Tips from grandma

Water with the chicken.

Never pour the water on top of your chicken, but next to it. This way you avoid rinsing the flavor off the chicken.

How do you eat roti?

No cutlery on the table! You eat roti with your hands. Tear off a piece of the roti and use this piece to eat the chicken, garter and potatoes. Handy to have enough napkins on the table to clean your hands every now and then.

No mortar in the house? Use a rolling pin!

A mortar is indispensable in the Surinamese kitchen. Did you know that you can easily replace a mortar with a rolling pin?