Kottu

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Kottu roti
chilli pepper

Kottu roti (

Malayalam: കൊത്തു പൊറോട്ട), which is made using parotta instead of roti. Kottu roti can also be found internationally in restaurants in regions containing Tamil, Sinhalese and Malayali diaspora populations.[8][9][10][11][12]

History

A dish of Kottu roti

The word koththu means "to chop" in Tamil, referring to its method of preparation,[13] as the ingredients are commonly chopped together using special cleavers, whilst they sauté on a hot griddle. This has been simplified in Tamil and Sinhalese to Kothu or Kottu respectively.

It is generally thought to have originated as street food in the eastern Tamil regions of Trincomalee or Batticaloa 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, [14][15] also known as "wheat roti" in Sinhala and "veechu parotta", "veechu roti" in Tamil.

Traditionally, kothu is made from recycling day-old godhamba 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.[16]

Another origin theory claims that the dish was created as kothu parotta in Madurai, India,[17][18] where it is made using parotta from maida flour, which is called bleached flour in areas outside South Asia.

Preparation

Kottu,[19] is made up of paratha or wheat flour roti, which is cut into small pieces or ribbons.[19] 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.[20] It is often prepared and served as a fast food dish.[20]

See also

  • Cuisine of Sri Lanka

References

External links

Media related to Kottu at Wikimedia Commons

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