Roti, masala and dahl: Hindustani-Surinamese cuisine

The moment you walk into a roti shop in Amsterdam or The Hague, you smell it: masala sizzling in hot oil, a stack of warm roti under a cloth and a pot of dahl simmering on the back burner. Suriname is a country where Hindustani, Creole, Javanese, Chinese, Maroon, Indigenous and Dutch cuisines have long shared the same table, and the Hindustani kitchen has contributed a few dishes that almost everyone knows. Roti with chicken, dahl with rice, bara with a dab of sambal: it’s food for Sundays, birthdays and a quick bite on the corner. Here you’ll learn exactly what roti, masala and dahl are, which split peas and masala to pick up at our shop and how to serve them at home. New to Surinamese cuisine? Start with Surinamese Cuisine 101.

What is Surinamese roti?

Yellow split peas are what make Surinamese roti what it is: a thin, soft flatbread made from wheat flour, filled with a layer of cooked, ground split peas seasoned with cumin and garlic. This stuffed roti is called dalpuri, and when people in the Netherlands talk about roti, this is usually what they mean. There’s also unfilled roti, just as thin and pliable. You eat roti with your hands: tear off a piece and use it to scoop up chicken, potato and yardlong beans from the masala sauce.

Roti came to Suriname with the Hindustani families who arrived from India as indentured laborers after the abolition of slavery. What they brought with them developed into a cuisine of its own, related to Indian cuisine but clearly distinct from it. To compare it with its Indian counterpart, read Indian Cuisine 101.

What is Surinamese masala, and how does it differ from garam masala?

Nandan Surinami Masala is a good example of Surinamese masala: a yellow, aromatic blend containing cumin, coriander and turmeric, among other spices, which forms the base of the sauce rather than something sprinkled on at the end. Stir the masala with a few spoonfuls of water to make a paste, then fry it in oil with onion, garlic and ginger until the oil separates around the edges. Only then add the chicken or potato. This frying is the key moment: raw masala tastes dusty, while fried masala tastes mellow and rich.

Indian garam masala is a different thing. It’s a warming blend with spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and cloves, and in many Indian dishes you add just a pinch near the end. So you can’t simply swap one for the other; if you want to make Surinamese roti with chicken, use Surinamese masala. For how garam masala is used in Indian cuisine, see Indian Spices 101.

Surinami masala Nandan · 80 gThe all-rounder for chicken, potatoes and vegetablesSurinami masala Nandan · 300 gFor anyone who makes roti every weekRoti kip masala Nandan · with mustard seedsMade especially for the chicken served with rotiHindustani masala Nandan · 5 kgFor a big pot at a celebrationCumin seeds jeera · wholeFor the hot oil poured over your dahlTurmeric ground turmericGives dahl and potatoes a deep yellow color

Our shelves stock the brands Surinamese families in the Netherlands have cooked with for generations, such as Nandan, Lekker Bekkie and Ratu. With Nandan, you can pick up a small packet for a weeknight pot or a large pack for when the whole family comes over.

How do you make Surinamese dahl with split peas?

Yellow split peas for Surinamese dahl are simply boiled with water, turmeric and salt until they fall apart, then whisked smooth. Soak the peas for a few hours first to speed up the cooking. The best part comes at the end: heat cumin seeds in hot oil in a small pan, fry some onion and garlic, then pour it all into the dahl at once. Surinamese dahl is thinner and smoother than many Indian dals, and is made with split peas rather than toor or moong. Eat it with rice, as a soup or alongside roti. Read Dal and Lentils to learn how it differs from Indian dal.

A guide to split peas: which should you use?

The pulses and flour behind Hindustani-Surinamese classics. Soaking times are from our recipes; otherwise, follow the package instructions.

Yellow split peas soak for 2 to 6 hours

The basis of almost everything: boiled for dahl and dalpuri filling, ground raw for phulauri and combined with urdi for bara.

dahlphulauridalpuri

Urdi (urid dal) soak for at least 6 hours

Ground into a smooth, thick batter that rises with yeast and puffs up beautifully in the oil.

bara

Chickpea flour besan · no soaking

A few spoonfuls in the phulauri batter help hold the balls together.

phulauri

Surinamese rice long grain

White rice to spoon the dahl over.

dahl with rice

Browse all Surinamese rice, beans and pulses →

What are bara and phulauri?

Urdi is where bara begins: a risen batter of ground urdi and some split peas with cumin and turmeric, dropped into the oil as a flat disc and fried until it puffs up golden brown. Bara is true street food, served hot from the fryer with a swipe of roti sambal. You can sometimes find ready-made bara mix at an Asian grocery, but with an overnight soak and a food processor, you can make the batter yourself.

Phulauri are small, airy balls made from raw ground yellow split peas with onion, garlic and coriander. Drop them into the oil using two teaspoons and eat them hot with mango chutney. For an easier option, try Nandan Surinami Phulauri Mix, which you just mix with water. Bara and phulauri are distant cousins of Indian pakora; if you love fried snacks, find more in Snacks 101.

How do you make potato masala with yardlong beans?

Surinamese masala, potatoes and yardlong beans are enough together for a full vegetarian dish that you can eat just as well with roti as with rice. You fry the masala into a paste until the oil separates, let the tomato break down and cook the potato cubes in it until they are completely yellow. Yardlong beans, fresh or frozen from the toko, are added only at the end, so they still have some bite. It is the same base as roti with chicken, only without meat.

What do you eat with roti?

Lekker Bekkie Roti Sambal Tomato or another roti sambal is almost always on the table with roti, together with a jar of mango chutney, some zuur and a bottle of pepper sauce for those who want it hot. You can adjust every bite yourself: the chutney makes it sweeter and tangier, the sambal rounder and the pepper sauce fiercer. Lekker Bekkie is also a brand that Surinamese families in the Netherlands have been cooking with for years, with chutneys, sambals and zuur for roti and bara.

Roti sambal tomato Lekker BekkieRound and spicy, for roti and baraMango chutney Lekker BekkieSweet and sour, for phulauri and rotiHot potato chutney Lekker Bekkie · with Madame JeanetteHot, for bara and rotiPepper vinegar Lekker Bekkie · extra hotPeppers in vinegar for the enthusiastGround Surinamese pepper Lekker BekkieA little kick in your dahl

Which chutney and which zuur go with which dish, and how to make cucumber zuur yourself, you can read about in Zuur, chutney and pepper sauce. We tell you everything about Madame Jeanette and the yellow pepper sauce in Caribbean hot sauce.

Can you make roti yourself?

Split peas, flour and a little patience are all you need to make roti yourself, although it takes some practice. In broad terms, it goes like this: you knead a supple dough from flour, water and a little baking powder and let it rest. Meanwhile, you cook the split peas until they are just tender but not mushy, let them steam off well and grind them finely with cumin and garlic. You fill a ball of dough with a spoonful of that powder, squeeze it shut and roll it out carefully into a thin sheet. You bake that on a hot tawa or in a dry frying pan, and you brush it with some oil or ghee until there are brown spots on it.

Masala and spices Nandan, cumin and turmericEverything for the sauce of your rotiShop nowSplit peas and rice for dahl, bara and phulauriSplit peas, urad and Surinamese riceShop nowSurinamese kitchen everything in one placeSambal, chutney, zuur and moreShop now

Recipes for roti, masala and dahl

With these five recipes you set a complete Hindostani-Surinamese table, from the roti with chicken to the bara for on the side.

Roti with chickenChicken thigh fillet, potato and yardlong beans in a thick masala sauce.DahlSmooth soup of yellow split peas with crackling cumin seeds.BaraRisen bread rolls made of urad, warm from the oil with roti sambal.PhulauriLight balls made of yellow split peas with mango chutney.Potato masala with yardlong beansVegetarian masala for roti or rice.

If you want to continue after the Hindostani kitchen, the Javanese side of Suriname cooks with ketjap and se-oen in Javanese-Surinamese, and you find moksi meti and tjauw min in Chinese-Surinamese.

Frequently asked questions

Roti, masala and dahl are perhaps the dishes that introduce many people in the Netherlands to Surinamese cuisine for the first time, whether at a roti shop on the corner or at the home of a neighbour who always cooks too much, and that is precisely why they feel like home to so many. Start gently with a pot of dahl and a packet of masala, let the oil sizzle for a moment and the kitchen fill with the aroma of cumin, and then sit down with a piece of roti, a spoonful of chutney and someone to share it with. If you are in our toko in Amsterdam and are unsure which masala or split peas to get, feel free to ask us, and if you would like to see how all this fits alongside the Creole, Javanese and Chinese sides of Suriname, read on in Surinamese cuisine 101.