Kottu Roti (Sri Lankan Chopped Roti Stir-Fry)
Sri Lanka's signature street food: cooled roti chopped on a hot griddle with vegetables, egg and meat using two metal blades. A ladle of curry gravy at the end is what moistens it — and that clanging outside a kottu shop is exactly this chopping.
Ingredients
- Paratha or roti canai · cooked the day before and cooled; stands in for godamba roti4 pieces
- Chicken thigh · bite-sized; leftover curry meat is even better250 g
- Eggs3
- Onion · coarsely sliced1
- Leek · white part, sliced on the bias1
- Carrot · julienned0.5
- Green chilies2
- Garlic · minced3 cloves
- Ginger · minced1 tsp
- Curry leaves · worth hunting down — they change the whole aroma1 sprig
- Oil3 tbsp
- Salt and pepper · to taste
- Seasoning
- Sri Lankan roasted curry powder · or 1 tbsp garam masala plus toasted ground coriander and cumin1.5 tbsp
- Chili flakes1 tsp
- Turmeric0.5 tsp
- Curry gravy (not optional)
- Coconut milk200 ml
- Water150 ml
- Onion · finely chopped0.5
- Curry powder1 tsp
- Turmeric0.25 tsp
- Salt · to taste
- To serve
- Lime or lemon1
Steps
- ⏲ 10 min
Make the gravy first: simmer the chopped onion, curry powder, turmeric, coconut milk and water in a small pan for 10 minutes into a thin curry sauce. Or use 150 ml of leftover chicken curry gravy.
- ⏲ 5 min
Cut the cooled paratha into 1 cm strips, then across into short pieces. Never use hot, fresh roti — it has to be cool, and day-old is better.
- ⏲ 7 min
Toss the chicken with half the curry powder, the turmeric and salt, cook it through in a pan, and set it aside.
- ⏲ 3 min
Get your largest pan properly hot over high heat. Add oil, then the curry leaves, garlic, ginger and chili for 10 seconds, then the onion, carrot and leek for just 2 minutes. The vegetables should still have bite.
- ⏲ 2 min
Push everything to one side, crack the eggs into the clear space, scramble them until barely set, then fold it all together.
- ⏲ 3 min
Add the cut roti and the chicken with the remaining curry powder and chili flakes. Now **chop down into it with two metal spatulas as you toss.** Two or three minutes, until the roti shreds finer and takes on the colour evenly — that chopping is what makes kottu kottu.
- ⏲ 3 min
Add the gravy a ladle at a time, chopping between additions. Only enough to moisten the roti — pooled liquid turns it to porridge. Season with salt.
Off the heat, squeeze over the lime and serve at once. Kottu waits for nobody — as it cools the roti clumps together.
Tips & Variations
Variations
- Cheese kottu: Grated cheddar or mozzarella folded in off the heat. The best-selling version in Sri Lanka right now.
- Dolphin kottu: Colombo street slang for the richest build — double egg, double cheese. No dolphin involved.
- Egg kottu / vegetable kottu: Drop the meat for egg only, or vegetables only. The everyday weeknight version.
- Seafood kottu: With squid and prawns — that's the version in the photo above.
- Godamba roti from scratch: Knead bread flour with water, oil and salt, rest 30 minutes, then stretch it paper-thin on an oiled surface, fold and griddle it. Far thinner and chewier than paratha, so it holds up to the chopping.
Tips
- The roti must be a day old. Hot fresh roti turns to paste the moment you chop it. Griddle it ahead and cool it completely, or fry frozen roti canai and let it go cold.
- Biggest pan, highest heat. If your pan is small, work in two batches — crowded, it steams instead of frying.
- Chop with two metal spatulas. Street cooks use two blunt metal blades in rhythm — that clanging outside a kottu shop is the dish being made. Two spatulas or a bench scraper works at home. Don't put an actual knife to your pan.
- Without gravy it isn't kottu, it's stir-fried bread. Leftover curry gravy is the best version of it.
- Sri Lankan curry powder isn't Indian curry powder — the spices are roasted dark before grinding, so it's deeper and nuttier. Garam masala plus toasted coriander and cumin gets you close.
- Eat it immediately. Kottu is a pan-to-plate dish, not something you plate up and carry.
Sign in to edit.
edits: 0 ·Edit history