Roti Buns

My flight back to NYC was canceled and I'm "stranded" at home a little longer. Any other occasion, I would have been perfectly happy but unfortunately I had planned a trip to the Caribbean and will miss the flight for that. After many hours on the phone, things have been rebooked and I'm scheduled to be in NYC by noon on Friday. We'll see how that works out.  In the mean time, I intend on lounging in rainy San Jose and eating as many roti buns as I can.

 My family just introduced these buns to be a couple days ago and described them as "delicious clouds." I had no idea what that meant, but I knew I wanted some! So one night after we had gone out for Thai, we stopped by a nearby Honeyberry, the home of these yummy buns. I was stuffed beyond a comfortable limit but once I got a whiff of their delicious coffee scent, I was a goner. 

It was love at first bite.

I was amazed I never heard of roti buns. How could I have been living in such ignorance?? This topped my favorite foods of 2010, hands down. My curiosity piqued, I decided to research these buns and see what they're made of and where they are from. Apparently they're huge in Asia with dozens of places that only sell these buns. The US really is slow to pick up these genius Asian food trends. The buns are made with simple bread ingredients--I think the secret is how they're proofed, baked and cooled. The delicious coffee cream on top pretty much seals the deal. I've become obsessed and have gone to get roti buns everyday and to study them in their natural habitat.

Getting ready to go into the oven. That's a huge tub of coffee cream next to it.

Fresh from the oven! Brings a tear to my eye.

I can't bear the thought of only eating these every three months when I visit. I've decided to try and make my own when I get back to New York. While, they're delicious as is, I've had crazy ideas about stuffing them with all sorts of savory fillings. The ones I've had are plain, stuffed with butter or cream cheese. None of the filled ones have any wow factor and the plain is actually the best. I can't wait to start experimenting. Until then, I'll continue to have my daily quota of buns here.