Originating in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

with Indian roots, a roti is a wrap style sandwich filled with either curried or sometimes stewed meats or vegetables wrapped inside a dhalpuri,

paratha Paratha (, also parantha/parontah) is a flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent, with earliest reference mentioned in early medieval Sanskrit, India. It is one of the most popular flatbreads in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. ...

, or dosti

roti Roti is a round flatbread originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly consumed in many South Asian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, East African, and Southeast African countries. It is made from stoneground whole-wheat flour, kno ...

. Roti is eaten widely across the Caribbean. As

Indo-Caribbeans Indo-Caribbean or Indian-Caribbean people are people from the Caribbean who trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent. They are descendants of the Girmityas, Jahaji Indian indenture system, indentured laborers from British Raj, British India ...

immigrated to other countries, especially in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

, they brought with them the roti and opened ''roti shops'' to sell it.

History

The roti sandwich is named after the

chapati Chapati (alternatively spelled chapathi; pronounced as IAST: ), also known as ''roti'', ''rooti'', ''rotee'', ''rotli'', '' rotta'', ''safati'', ''shabaati'', ''phulka'', ''chapo'' (in East Africa), ''sada roti'' (in the Caribbean), ''poli'' (i ...

bread (also known as roti) in which it is wrapped. Indian

indentured workers Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract called an "indenture", may be entered voluntarily for a prepaid lump sum, as payment for some good or serv ...

came to Trinidad in great numbers after the slavery system ended in 1838. They brought recipes for various roti variations with them that today still are a staple in Trinidadian cuisine as a side dish. In 1937, South Trinidadian businessman ran a snack bar in San Fernando. To address takeaway customers he turned the roti, by then used as a side dish, into a wrapping and filled it with curry dishes. The "invention" spread over Trinidad and subsequently over Guyana, Suriname, and Jamaica. As Trinidadians immigrated to other countries, especially in North America and the United Kingdom, they brought with them the roti and opened ''roti shops'' to sell it.

Preparation

Large rotis are baked on

tava A ''tava(h)'' / ''tawa(h)'' (mainly on the Indian subcontinent), ''saj'' (in Arabic), ''sac'' (in Turkish), and other variations, is a metal cooking utensil. The tawa is round and is usually curved: the concave side is used as a wok or frying ...

-style slabs. The filling usually contains a concentrated curry based on any kind of meat or seafood, the most established one being chicken. Additional regular ingredients are potato and/or

chickpeas The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae, cultivated for its edible seeds. Its different types are variously known as gram," Bengal gram, garbanzo, garbanzo bean, or Egypt ...

. Due to a high share of Hindus (at least 18 % as of 2011) and a high share of Indo-Trinidadians among the population (at least 35 %) vegetarian dishes are popular in Trinidad and Tobago. As a consequence, meatless roti fillings are also common.

References

Fast food Flatbread dishes Jamaican cuisine Roti Sandwiches Trinidad and Tobago cuisine Grenadian cuisine Caribbean cuisine Indo-Caribbean cuisine Guyanese cuisine Surinamese cuisine Stuffed dishes Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian culture Indian diaspora in Guyana Indian diaspora in Suriname Indian breads {{caribbean-cuisine-stub

History

Preparation

See also

References