The name Rolex is thought to have derived from ‘rolled eggs’ – which is fitting given that the egg’s omelet is rolled together inside a chapatti. The Preparation of the Rolex involves rolling the chapatti & eggs together, where its name was derived.
The idea originally came from a Ugandan businessman in Kikoni, near Makerere University in Kampala. Most of the university students stay around the area, and they always need a quick and cheap meal.
It was recently launched as a culinary tourist attraction in Uganda and the first-ever Kampala Rolex Festival was held in August 2016 at the Uganda Museum. Subsequent Rolex festivals are still enjoyable cultural events for both locals and visitors.
In November 2021, the largest Ugandan Rolex was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. This record-breaking Rolex weighed more than 200 kilograms.
World records and festivals aside, the Rolex is very popular in Uganda and every day hundreds of thousands of Ugandans are having a Rolex for breakfast, quick lunch, supper, or a quick snack.
Since it is quite easy to make a Rolex at home, why not try it?
Here are some simple steps to follow;
- Prepare the ingredients to make a chapatti, that is to say, baking flour, cooking oil, salt, boiled water, etc.
- Prepare your Eggs for frying. You may decide to add cabbages, onions, tomatoes, or green paper according to your taste.
- Get your frying pan ready on the cooker/stove
- First, you will need to make the chapattis. If you don’t know how to make chapattis, check YouTube for a tutorial.
- After making chapattis, mix 2 – 3 eggs with Onions, salt, cabbage & green paper et al.
- Fry the eggs and then add a chapatti on top of the eggs. Give it about 15 seconds and you can remove it from the heat/pan.
- Cut some fresh tomatoes in slices onto the chapatti and egg. Then roll them together.
- You now have your Rolex – the Ugandan street food.
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