Kottu roti (; ), alternatively spelled kothu roti, is a Sri Lankan dish consisting of chopped

roti Roti is a round flatbread originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly consumed in many South Asian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, East African, and Southeast African countries. It is made from stoneground whole-wheat flour, kno ...

, a meat curry dish of choice (such as

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

mutton Lamb and mutton, collectively sheep meat (or sheepmeat) is one of the most common meats around the world, taken from the domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries'', and generally divided into lamb, from sheep in their first year, hogget, from sheep in thei ...

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

) along with scrambled egg, onions, and chillies. A variation of the dish is found in the south Indian states of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, known as kothu parotta (; ), which is made using

parotta Parotta or porotta (Malayalam: പൊറോട്ട, Tamil: பரோட்டா) is a layered Indian flatbread made from refined flour, eggs and oil. It is commonly seen in South India, especially in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, as w ...

instead of roti. Kottu roti can also be found internationally in restaurants in regions containing Sri Lankan diaspora populations.

History

The word ''koththu'' means "to chop" in Tamil, referring to its method of preparation, as the ingredients are commonly chopped together using special

cleaver A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed tomahawk. It is largely used as a kitchen knife, kitchen or butcher knife and is mostly intended for splitting up large pieces of soft bones and slas ...

s, whilst they sauté on a hot

griddle A griddle, in the UK also called a girdle, is a cooking device consisting mainly of a broad, usually flat cooking surface. Nowadays it can be either a movable metal pan- or plate-like utensil, a flat heated cooking surface built onto a stove as ...

. This has been simplified in Tamil and Sinhalese to Kothu or Kottu respectively. It is generally thought to have originated as

street food Street food is food sold by a Hawker (trade), hawker or vendor on a street or at another public place, such as a market, fair, or park. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumption ...

in the eastern province of Sri Lanka in the 1960s/1970s, as an inexpensive meal for the lower socio-economic classes. The basic roti is made of Gothamba flour, a wheat flour made out of a variety of grains-referring to the white flour, also known as wheat roti or gothamba/godamba roti in Sinhala and "veechu parotta", "veechu roti" in Tamil. Traditionally, kottu is made from recycling day-old godamba rotis, which are chopped up into small strips and mixed with an assortment of spices, fried vegetables, possibly egg or meat, and topped with chillies and onions. The old roti chunks were castoffs the bakers couldn’t sell, and an enterprising lower class took advantage of the inexpensive food source.https://southeastasiabackpacker.com/koththu-roti-sri-lanka/

Preparation

Kottu, is made up of

paratha Paratha (, also parantha/parontah) is a flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent, with earliest reference mentioned in early medieval Sanskrit, India. It is one of the most popular flatbreads in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. ...

or wheat flour (Godamba

), which is cut into small pieces or ribbons. Then on a heated iron sheet or griddle, vegetables and onions are fried. Eggs, cooked meat, or fish are added to fried vegetables and heated for a few minutes. Finally, the pieces of cut ''paratha'' are added. These are chopped and mixed by repeated pounding using heavy iron blades/spatula, the sound of which is very distinctive and can usually be heard from a long distance. Depending upon what ingredients are used, the variations are vegetable, egg, beef, chicken, mutton, and fish ''kottu roti''. It is often prepared and served as a fast food dish.

References

External links

{{Sri Lankan cuisine Flatbread dishes Sri Lankan cuisine Tamil cuisine

History

Preparation

See also

References

External links