From roti royalty to recipe book: Roti King’s greatest hits to make at home

Malaysian chef Sugen Gopal opened London’s Roti King in 2014 and its popularity skyrocketed – with queues famously out the door.

Since then, Gopal’s Corner – and several other outlets, his newest in Brighton – have opened and now he’s released his debut cookbook, Roti King.

Here are two of his recipes to make at home.

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“We serve a beef version of this at the Roti King restaurants, but chicken works so well with the aromatic spices that I wanted to include a recipe here. Enjoy it with a steaming bowl of coconut rice,” says Gopal.

Serves: 4-6

Prep time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

For the paste (use 500g of it for this recipe):

2-4 fresh green chillies (depending on heat preference), stalks removed

5 dried Kashmiri chillies, seeds removed

2 lemongrass sticks, tops cut off and bottoms bashed and roughly chopped

35g turmeric

35g galangal (or ginger)

1 tbsp oil

For the rendang:

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cinnamon stick

1 lemongrass stick, bashed

600g chicken thighs, skin-on and bone-in

1½ tsp salt

40g fresh or frozen shredded coconut, or 60g coconut block

130ml coconut milk

2 tsp dark brown sugar

¼ tsp coriander seeds

¼ tsp fennel seeds

6 lime leaves, stems removed, finely sliced into strips

Method:

1. Make the rendang paste: Blitz all of the ingredients along with 100ml of water in a blender until it becomes a smooth paste. Add a little more water to loosen, if needed. If you’re not using this straightaway, keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks.

2. Heat the oil in a large lidded pan over a medium heat, break the cinnamon stick in half and add to the pan with the lemongrass. Add the rendang paste and cook for 5-10 minutes over a low heat, stirring often.

3. Add the chicken along with the salt, give it a good stir, then reduce the heat to low and cover with the lid. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. In a separate non-stick frying pan set over a medium heat, toast the shredded coconut (or coconut block), stirring continuously until it’s golden brown – this should take 3 minutes.

5. Remove from the pan and pound to a paste using a pestle and mortar. If you are using coconut block, there is no need to pound as the consistency should already be smooth.

6. Add 100ml of water to the chicken, stir and cover again. Leave to cook for a further 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the coconut milk and cook for another 10 minutes, then add the toasted coconut and the sugar.

7. In a small dry pan, toast the coriander and fennel seeds until fragrant and starting to pop. Remove from the pan and bash roughly using the pestle and mortar. Tip straight into the pan with the chicken. Add the lime leaves, cook for another 2 minutes and serve.

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“This side dish comes together extremely quickly and would make a great accompaniment to most meals. Here, I use Tenderstem broccoli, but you could easily swap it out for other seasonal green vegetables, such as purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus or green beans. The butter is browned slightly, which gives the whole dish a nutty flavour, further amplified by the toasted cashews.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Prep time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 10 minutes

300g Tenderstem broccoli

2 tsp salted butter

50g cashews, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp crispy fried shallots (homemade or store-bought), to serve

Method:

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1. Start by blanching the broccoli in a pan of boiling water for 2 minutes, then drain and plunge into ice-cold water. Leave to drain in a colander.

2. Melt the butter in large pan over a medium heat, and once bubbling, add the cashews and then the garlic. Stir frequently and cook until the butter is just starting to brown.

3. Transfer the garlic and cashew mixture to a plate, before adding the drained broccoli to the pan, keeping it over a medium heat.

4. Add the oyster sauce, and fry for 2–3 minutes until the broccoli has started to soften a little (but being careful not to overcook). Add the garlic and nuts back into the pan, stir together and serve garnished with the crispy fried shallots.

Recipes from ‘Roti King’ by Sugen Gopal (Quadrille, £18.99).