Kottu Roti recipe - most popular street food in Sri Lanka

- October 08, 2017

You must not miss witnessing the roadside spectacle of making Kottu in Sri Lanka! The typical metal clashing and banging to the rhythm of deafening fast beat music, making kottu is an interesting roadside scene at night in many towns in Sri Lanka!

When the last of daylight dims down, bright white lights dazzle from the food stalls, while a circle of onlookers watching in amusement how their portions of Kottu are made in minutes, followed by a little jig, cling clang of metals, many ingredients being dropped and then disappeared in shreds!

Finally, a heap of steaming kottu on a plate is offered and while you are digging a fork between a combination of soft flakes of roti, glistering pieces of meat, and shreds of veggies, involuntarily, your legs will dance to the irresistible music aired to the wee hours of the night.

We can produce something similar at home even though we don’t have the metal plates or the need for a jig. The packeted frozen Kottu Porottas, available in the freezer section of Asian food stalls, are the best and easiest choice. If you are unable to get that and you have time and patience, these rotis could be made at home and cut into small squares to make this dish. Interestingly, these rotis are called Handkerchief rotis, considering their thin and flat appearance. However, they are locally known as Godamba roti.

Recipes given below are;

Kottu roti
Handerchief roti
Chicken curry

Let’s make kottu

Prepare the frozen parotta

Heat up a non-stick pan
Place a frozen parotta and heat up both sides
Cut into small pieces
Make 3 cups for this recipe

Let’s get ready with these ingredients to make the Kottu dish;

Kottu Porotta	3 cups
Soy sauce	3 tbsp
Salt	1/2 tsp
Ground black pepper	1 tsp
Garlic chopped
Green chili slit	1
Onion chopped	1
Large onion cubed	for tossing on at the end
Carrots – cut or shred into thin strips(Do not grate)	1/2 cup
Spring onions chopped or leek cut thinly	1/4 cup
White Cabbage – shredded thinly	1 cup
Eggs	2 large

How to make:

Step by step recipe guidance

Stir fry

In a large wok, add 2 tbsp of oil and heat up
Add garlic and saute’ the chopped onion
Add shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, slit green chilli and start stir fry until slightly wilted
Add salt and ground black pepper

Add eggs

Now push the veggies to a side of the wok and break all 2 eggs into the pan.

Immediately scramble the eggs

Mix all together

Now mix veggies and eggs together and give a good stir frying under high flame
Toss a bit more black pepper powder and add soy sauce. Mix rapidly
Add the cut pieces of Kottu Porotta and give a good toss and a shake to mix everything together
Add some of the pieces of meat leaving the gravy and mix well
Throw the cubed onion on top. Onions should be crunchy to bite. So do not cover the lid or overcook at this point

Your basic Kottu dish is done!

Time to gobble it down

Now drench kottu in chicken gravy and tuck in (Mix gravy only when you are ready to eat it or else your kottu will be too soggy )
Delicious!

Handkerchief roti / Godamba roti

Flat rotis used for making Kottu

You will need :

All-purpose flour	3 cups
Salt	1 tsp
Olive oil (Any cooking oil would do)	1 tbsp
Sugar	1 tsp
Baking powder	1/2 tsp

Knead dough:

Rub flour, sugar, salt and oil together
Add water little by little knead for about 5 – 8 mins until the dough doesn’t stick on to your fingers
Divide into equal sized balls giving an extra kneed to each ball
Rub oil on each ball generously. Place on a tray a little apart from each other
Cover with a wet tea towel or a cling film and let them rest at least 3 hours

Make rotis on the thawa :

Heat up a wide flat pan and spray oil all over
Grease the worktop as well as your fingers with little oil
Place a dough ball on top and press it down from the middle and slowly spread it out from sides to look like a flat handkerchief or a bed sheet
Lift up slowly and place on the heated pan
Immediately after a few seconds, flip on to the other side
Bake both sides quickly, being careful not to make them crispy
Cover with a lid or a tea towel until all the rotis are made
Cut into bite-size pieces and keep aside

Chicken curry that goes with Kottu

Marinate

Marinate 300g of chicken legs or thighs cut into medium size pieces with the following and keep aside for 1hr in the fridge:

Salt 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder 1/4 tsp
Roasted curry powder 1/4 tsp (Could use garam masala in place of this)
Black pepper powder 1/8 tsp
Turmeric 1/8 tsp
Ginger and garlic grated or paste
Olive oil 1 tsp
Vinegar

Stir fry

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan
Add 3 cloves, an inch long cinnamon stick, a few crushed cardamoms. fry a minute
Brown a thinly sliced onion
Add 1 tbsp of ginger and garlic paste or both ground together as a pulp and a few crushed curry leaves
Add a slit green chilli
Drop the marinated chicken into the pan and fry for about 5 minutes under medium flame
Now close the lid, lower the flame to the minimum and let the chicken cook in its own juices for 10 mins
Open the lid, mix all the juices and the chicken together and fry for another 2 mins

Cook it

Add water a little above the chicken pieces, cover the lid and cook for 15 mins
Give a good stir and add more water as you need a lot of gravy for Kottu
Cover and cook further a few mins
Finally, add a tablespoon of Maggi coconut milk powder to enhance the flavours
Drop a few crushed curry leaves on top, cover and let it rest
Your juicy chicken curry is now ready!

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