Free rotis for Easter
Mashud Siddique opens up his eatery, Vena’s Restaurant, to the homeless and the disadvantaged
This is what Easter might taste like for 1,000 hungry Torontonians in Bloordale Village.
Lightly curried boneless chicken leg, or mixed vegetables and chickpeas, folded into a freshly griddled roti shell.
You’ll get a knife and fork to eat the hefty packet of East Indian/West Indian goodness — and a tub of Scotch bonnet chili pepper and vinegar hot sauce if you want a kick.
See, Mashud Siddique is urging “the homeless and the disadvantaged” to come to Vena’s Restaurant at 1263 Bloor St., near Lansdowne Ave., from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday for the free meal. His loyal customers and neighbours are also welcome.
This culinary act of charity isn’t actually happening because it’s Easter — that’s a coincidence, and besides, Siddique is Muslim. It’s happening because it’s something Siddique has been doing off and on since 1998.
That’s the year that daughter Ameena asked him for an unusual birthday gift for her seventh birthday on April 15 — to feed the hungry people she saw begging for money.
Five months later, his youngest daughter Aliza, asked for the same gift for her fifth birthday and a family tradition was born.
Siddique is not a rich man by any stretch. He ran roti shops at Queen/Bathurst and Bloor/Lansdowne to save money for his children’s education. But he was raised by a farmer in what was then called West Pakistan (and is now Bangladesh) who taught him to give what he could.
Now 71, Siddique leads a modest life, living within walking distance of the restaurant that he now runs alone. To tell me about his meal giveaway, he sends me a fax.
He has separated from his Guyanese wife, Homewaty, who taught him how to make Guyanese-style rotis and lent her nickname, Vena, to their businesses. His two younger daughters live in England, where Ameena works in film and Aliza studies law. His two older daughters from a previous marriage, Anwara and Shunara, live in Toronto and have given him four grandchildren.
Vena’s on Queen closed 10 years ago. Vena’s on Bloor could generously be described as extremely modest. There’s a takeout counter and a few seats.
“My cooking is not Indian and not West Indian,” stresses Siddique, while giving me a cooking lesson. “I just mix it up myself.” Rotis cost about $8. The top three: mixed curried vegetables (like potatoes, squash, eggplant and spinach with chickpeas often thrown in), boneless curried goat and curried chicken.
The rotis are so heavy, and so moist from the curried gravy that his customers demand, that Siddique serves them in Styrofoam containers with a knife and fork.
You can get your curry on rice if you prefer. Not just any rice, mind you. Siddique cooks brown long-grain rice with red kidney beans, pepper, garlic, thyme, coconut milk powder and cassava extract.
Each morning he prepares big pots of each vegetable and meat, and then mixes them to order. His curries are mild — no cayenne pepper allowed — but he grinds fresh Scotch bonnet peppers with salt and thins the mixture with vinegar to make an optional hot sauce that customers adore. Making the roti shells by hand is the hardest part. Siddique makes a simple dough from water and flour, and later pats boiled, ground yellow split peas into the dough balls before rolling the balls into 33-centimetre circles and cooking them to order on an ungreased flat-top grill.
Normally, Siddique prepares a day’s worth of curries each morning. If he’s lucky, he serves 100 customers.
For this Sunday’s possible onslaught of 1,000 people, he’ll cook from Saturday night until Sunday morning and hope that some friends help him serve the meals.
Usually he’s weary at the end of each long day, “but when I’m making 1,000 meals, and working the whole night, I’m not tired.”
Siddique pulls out a bank statement and points to several automatic withdrawals.
UNICEF gets $100/month. The Canadian Red Cross gets $50. “Mostly I like charity,” he says. It clearly invigorates him.
Curried Vegetable Roti
Star Tested
At Vena’s Restaurant, owner Mashud Siddique cooks each vegetable separately (and in big batches) and combines them to order. This is my streamlined version. Siddique mixes Madras curry powder with his own toasted and ground mixture of cardamom, cloves, cinnamon bark, cumin seeds, kalonji (nigella) seeds and bay leafs. I’ve added garam masala (a fra- grant spice mixture) to my curry powder instead.
I buy Norman Sue Bakery’s dhalpuri roti shells (and paratha/plain roti shells) from the NoFrills on Carlaw Ave. Dhalpuri shells are stuffed with ground split yellow peas.
Norman Sue is based in Scarborough. Look for other brands in West Indian and Indian grocery stores or, in a pinch, use large (about 33 centimetres) flour tortillas. You can also serve this curry on rice. 2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil 1 medium yellow onion, halved, thinly
sliced
1 tbsp (15 mL) each: curry powder,
paprika 1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) turmeric 1 tsp (5 mL) garam masala 3 cups (750 mL) water + more if
needed
4 cups (1L) bite-size chunks peeled,
white waxy/boiling potatoes (about 1
lb/450 g) 4 cups (1L) bite-size chunks peeled
butternut squash (about 1 lb./450 g) 1 cup (250 mL) cooked chickpeas 2 cups (500 mL) packed chopped spinach
4 to 6 roti shells (dhalpuri or plain) Your favourite hot sauce In large saucepan over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion. Cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Stir in curry, paprika, turmeric and garam masala. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add 3 cups (750 mL) water, potatoes, squash and chickpeas. Raise heat to high; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium. Cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are just tender, 15 to 20 minutes, adding water if needed. You want to have some curried “gravy” for the rotis. Remove from heat. Add spinach. Cover. Let stand 5 minutes to wilt. Stir well. (This should make about 8 cups/2L of curried vegetables.)
To assemble, warm roti shells in large, dry skillet over medium-high heat, about 2 minutes per side.
Place on counter. Using slotted spoon, scoop 1-1/2 to 2 cups (375 mL to 500 mL) curried vegetables into centre of roti. If desired, use spoon to add curried gravy. Fold the four ends of the roti shells into the centre to enclose the stew and form a tight packet.
Serve on a plate to eat by hand or with a knife and fork. Pass hot sauce separately.
Makes 4 to 6 servings. Follow @thesaucylady on Twitter. Jennifer
Bain ’s book, The Toronto Star Cookbook: More Than 150 Diverse & Delicious Recipes Celebrating Ontario, is sold at starstore.ca and in bookstores.