- Have you ever had Frosted Mini Wheats
and you get one by accident that isn't even frosted?
That's what it feels like.
(upbeat music)
My name is Addis Fouche.
My dad's side of the family is from Jamaica.
My mom's side of the family is from Trinidad.
- My name is Claude Lewis
and I'm representing Antigua and Barbuda.
- My name is Daena and I'm representing Jamaica.
(air whooshing)
Roti is a Caribbean food.
The base is a curry, it can be vegetarian.
It can have seafood, it can have chicken.
The roti itself is kind of like a bread or a naan.
- They have it in Indian cultures
and it got to the Caribbean islands
and it turned into kind of a ripped up flat bread
that you use to eat with a lot of soups and stews.
My advice to make a winning roti would be take your time.
Roti takes four to six hours to make.
It's a labor of love, so take your time
and follow the recipe and do it the way it's supposed to be.
- Okay, here we go.
You know what, okay.
On first glance, she's looking a little dry, I will say.
It's giving, like, you know, I sat all day in the sun,
collecting sea glass, drinking Peardrax,
and now my throat hurts.
So we'll see how this tastes.
- It's very pretty.
The color is good, I see that it's chicken
and I see that the chicken was grilled beforehand.
It's giving me jerk chicken vibes.
- Okay, hmm.
Okay, it wasn't as dry as I thought it was gonna be.
- It's not a bad curry.
It's flavorful, but I'm not tasting a lot of the curry.
- I feel like 'cause there's not that much stuff in here,
that would've made this like elevated.
So we'll say she's a 6.7 outta 10.
- The roti skin is great, the coloring is really good.
Yeah, so it's not bad.
I'll rate it about a 6.5.
- You know what, we're gonna bump that down to a 6.2,
now that I think about it. (record scratching)
I just feel like it's really giving wheat.
Like, you know when you, I don't know.
Have you ever had Frosted Mini Wheats
and you get one by accident that isn't even frosted?
That's what it feels like. (laughing)
(Crew Member laughing)
(upbeat music)
(electronic beeping)
(electronic ringing)
- Jamaican roti is superior to all the rest
because obviously it's Jamaica,
the best island nation in the Caribbean.
The other ones are nice too,
but I'm gonna rep Jamaica all day.
The particular skill that I learned
in making a very good roti is to burn your curry.
It's not necessarily burning it,
but you cook your curry on high heat in the pan
before you add your meat or your vegetables
and that just intensifies the flavor.
- Ooh, yeah, see?
I like the colors already.
You can see that this was like seasoned with intention.
- It smells great, the roti's a great texture.
(Claude chewing)
- Mm, mm-hmm.
- I think it's very good.
I mean, if there was anything that I would say
would be maybe the curry could use
a little bit more seasoning.
Not salt 'cause we don't like to use salt.
It's more about seasoning,
so maybe like a seafood base.
- That is so good, that is so good.
Wow, I really like that one.
That's very good.
- Let me see about this tamarind.
I can't let the tamarind and sit here and not try it.
Oh, tamarind chutney.
It's good, but I think it should be hot.
It's not spicy, but besides that, it's quite delicious.
- I just wanna try this.
Yeah, see, this tamarind sauce, (beep) bussin'.
This is so good.
- Oh, there's a little bit of heat, got it.
- This (beep) got like a 9.8 out of 10.
Oh my God, the only thing that could make it better
is if like it literally came out of the (beep) pot
that you know your grandmother's had like in her oven
for safekeeping since the '70s.
- I would go six.
What could have made it greater for me
is absolutely just more shrimp flavor.
You know, it kind of tastes like
the shrimp was an afterthought.
You worked hard on the curry sauce
and then threw the shrimp in there.
(electronic beeping)
(electronic ringing)
- Roti's typically eaten more in Trinidad,
so I did actually go to my Trinidadian cousin
and I was like, "I'm phoning a friend.
Girl, let's make this roti."
So the way that me and my cousin made it
was that we added some Trinidadian pumpkin,
which I think kind of makes the flavor
a little bit more mild but also doesn't overwhelm.
I don't know if my roti's gonna win today
but I do know that it's a top contender
because I had a real Trinidadian help me make this.
- Thank you, oh.
- Okay, it is a very pretty plate.
Very pretty, all right,
I see the potato and the chana, AKA chickpeas,
and then she has a shrimp here, okay.
- As in with that last dish, which was shrimp,
this is a direct contrast because this shrimp,
the liquid is very loose.
- The shrimp is nice, but it's definitely not
giving me curry.
- It's not curry enough.
I'm not getting the curry punch
that I should get from any one of these.
- The potato and channa is seasoned really nicely.
My only critique needs a little more curry flavor.
I do feel the heat on the back end,
but the potato and chana is actually really nice.
- Oh, this is a nice roti.
If you guys can see, those brown spots on here
are the butter that caramelizes
when you cook it on the flat.
- I think that this will be neck and neck with my roti.
Like I said, the flavors were very good.
The seasoning, the spices were there for the most part.
I would give it a 7.5.
- The pumpkin is delicious.
I mean, that's my favorite thing on the plate.
The roti has its good points and bad points.
It was cooked well, but does not taste fresh.
I would go five.
- Okay. - It's not bad.
It just needs tweaking.
(electronic beeping)
(electronic ringing)
(snare drum rolling)
(electronic ringing)
(upbeat music) - I feel that I definitely
did Jamaica proud and I hope that my friends from T&T,
hope they're happy, too.
And you know that pumpkin,
I might have to take that home 'cause it was delicious.
(air whooshing)