charles.kongsoo@guardian.co.tt
If you drive too fast down the Aranguez Main Road, San Juan, you might miss seeing Asha’s Roti Shop and genuine Guyanese dhal puri and fish cakes and authentic egg balls in the display case along with other delectable foods tantalising customers in the morning.
There is no sign advertising her establishment with the turquoise blue inner walls, the tell-tale signs that you’ve reached the right place for great tasting food are the pedestrian customers and bicyclists lining up in front of her place and the cars stopping to place their orders with an assistant collecting the money from the drivers and handing them their meals.
From Monday to Friday, Asha is open from 5 am up to lunchtime, however, her “sweet hand” is so good, that very often she sells out her mouth-watering meals by around 10 am.
Just like how the Guyanese tweaked the English Scotch egg, a boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, and coated in breadcrumbs which is then baked or deep-fried and made it their own using indigenous ingredients such as seasoned cassava to wrap around the boiled egg, then deep fried until golden brown; the Guyanese egg ball was created.
The Guyanese dhal puri and fish cake came about due to the influence of the large East Indian population and their cuisine, contributing the dhal puri or dhal/split peas roti and the rich abundance of fish and by tweaking the traditional English fish cake recipe, which usually had potato, and cassava or another ground provision plus spices were added for the Guyanese version which is served with delicious mango sour/chutney.
T&T is slowly but surely becoming acquainted with the delicious and iconic Guyanese street foods such as egg balls and black and white pudding, and Asha, who is from Berbice, Guyana, is the real deal also with her delicious Guyanese dhal puri fish cakes, egg balls and T&T/East Indian fare.
When Guardian Media visited Asha, who only gave her first name, at her roti shop, she was being assisted in the kitchen by her Trinidadian husband and assistants as she served her customers.
Asha said: “Trinidadians make sausage rolls: we do dhal puri and fish cakes. In countries all over the world that have a lot of fish, including Guyana, they make their own style of fish cakes.
“The French have their fish croquettes, right here in the Caribbean, Barbados have their fish cakes version, Jamaica have saltfish fritters they call ‘Stamp and Go’ and in T&T we have accra.
“Guyanese fish cakes can be made with potatoes or cassava and eddoes and different seasonings, and you can use what fish is available or what you like, salmon, cod, snapper, salt fish, gilbaka or sea catfish, grouper and kingfish.
“For my dhal puri and fish cakes, I use salmon fillet, steam it, add seasoning, roll it in cassava and then fried; it comes with mango sour/chutney and pepper and it real nice.”
Asha said she first started off making pies, cheese, chicken, fish alloo pie, and pholourie, eventually she added sada and gradually increased the variety and range of food to what it is today including egg balls.
Remarkably she only opened her business on February 13, 2022, her first love was gardening and this complimented her love and dream of having her own food establishment using products she grew from her own garden and neighbouring farmers in her dishes.
Asha was thankful to her loyal customers who supported her and her fledgling venture, who came from diverse places across the country such as Arima, Chaguanas, Port-of-Spain, San Fernando, Diego Martin and other areas.
She shared that she honed her cooking skills under the guidance of her mother since she was seven years old, when she got married, she accompanied her father-in-law to events when he cooked for weddings and prayer ceremonies learning by observing and refining her cooking skills.
Asha added that when she came to Trinidad, her husband also imparted and shared his culinary skills to add to her cooking techniques and she was always eager to learn as much as she can always asking questions and seeking advice on what dishes she could come up with to serve her customers and make them happy.
She said that she always wanted to open a roti shop and with the help of her husband her dream has come true, but she was not resting on her laurels, whenever she goes back to Guyana, she seeks out pointers on constant and unceasing improvement in her culinary repertoire for her customers.
As we’re in the Christmas season, Asha wants to introduce more fresh, homemade juices from Guyana that Trinis are familiar with such as orange juice, ginger beer, passion fruit, sugar cane, tamarind, swank (aka limeade), sorrel and cherry juices.
