Chicken Kottu Roti
This Sri Lankan dish made from godhamba roti, vegetables, chicken and spices is an immensely famous street food. It is a comforting, filling and a flavoursome meal. Well just to whisper a perfect anti-hangover food to add to list for Friday evenings.I came across this simple, delicious and nutrient packed bowl at my workplace few years ago when I was more of a vegetarian pro.The strips of flatbread mixed with veggies was my fascination, as I was aware of using Indian bread with curries and wraps, this recipe just added an overall new outlook to the use asian flatbread. The first look on the food appeared more like pasta to my eyes.
Equipment
- Wok
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil as required
- 1 tbsp each minced garlic & ginger
- 1 -2 tbsp tomato purée
- 2-3 eggs
- 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
- 8-10 fresh curry leaves
- ½ medium red onion finely chopped
- 1 cup mixture of finely grated carrots & chopped spring onions
- 1 cup sliced leeks washed, white part only
- ¼ of a shredded white cabbage
- 2 cups shredded leftover chicken curry
- 1-2 green chillies for some heat (optional)
- 6 asian flatbread
- Salt and pepper to taste
Curry Spices For Kottu
- 1 tbsp Sri Lankan Curry powder
- ⅓ cup chicken stock
- ½ coriander powder
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cumin powder
- ¼ tsp red chilli powder for extra heat ( optional)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large wok heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is heated, add the mustard seeds , let them splitter, stir in chopped onion and saute until softened. Add the ginger and garlic saute for a few seconds. Do not let them burn, followed by tomato purée, green chillies and curry leaves. Let it cook for a minute.
- Add all the vegetables (except for the spring onion and carrots), salt to taste and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add the chicken, pepper and the curry sauce, further stir-fry until the vegetables are just starting to soften. If you don't have leftover curry sauce, then add the ingredients for the curry spices as given above
- Add the carrots and mix them in. Whisk the eggs together in a bowl, and season with a salt. Create a well in the middle of the vegetable mix and add the eggs into this well. Let the eggs cook while scrambling them. When the eggs are almost cooked, you can mix it with the vegetables and chicken. Taste and season with salt/ pepper / chillies if required.
- Add the shredded roti, and mix through with the vegetables and chicken. Mix frequently until the shredded flatbread is completely coated with the all the spices and curry sauce. Cook for about 8-10 minutes.
- Ready to devour with gravy or raita or sambhar.
Notes
Godhamba Roti can be replaced with store bought or homemade paratha roti. These roti are almost identical to godhamba roti.
If you cannot find these roti, then you can use tortillas instead.
I prefer the eggs in the background of the recipe to add flava, binding and texture, hence have added two small eggs, without masking the presence of chicken curry and veggies.
Meat option; cooked with beef, pork bite size chunks instead of chicken while vegetarian option; add veggies of the season or to your preference.
I have used chopped green chillies for heat, this option can be skipped or deseed it to remove the heat element.
Coconut-cooking oil is used traditionally, please substitute the oil to choice, I have used sunflower oil.
Alternatively use madras curry powder if Sri-Lankan Curry Powder is unavailable.