Cooking with Bless: Koththu Roti (Chopped Flat Bread)

Koththu Roti

Koththu (sometimes spelled as kottu) roti is a very popular Sri Lankan street food.  Koththu means "chopped" and roti refers to flat, unleavened bread.  In Sri Lanka, this is usually made with a type of flat bread known as godhamba (gothamba) roti.  The flat bread is chopped up, sauteed with various ingredients, including vegetables, eggs, and/or meat.  In Sri Lanka, it is sauteed up on a flat metal cooking surface, where the ingredients are chopped with two cleaver type knives and customized as desired (vegetarian, chicken, mutton, beef, etc.)  When I left Sri Lanka, in 1973, koththu roti was not yet as popular among the general population.  But, on my last visit, in 1990, it was available at just about every street corner.

These days, I often use flour tortillas to make a version of koththu roti.

When neighbor S sent me the Armenian flat bread known as lavash, I first planned to eat it with chicken curry.  Then, this morning, I decided I would use it to make koththu roti, instead.  And I thought I'll post some pictures and directions, in case anyone wants to try making it. 

Lavash - Armenian Flat Bread

Step 1: Roll up the lavash (or tortillas), and cut into slices.  Then, cut across the slices to make short strips:

Lavash Cut Into Strips

Step 2:  Gather and prepare the ingredients.  The amounts will depend on how much of the flat bread is used.  I used about 1/2 an onion, sliced; 1/2 a green chili, sliced; 1/2 carrot, grated; a wedge of iceberg lettuce, sliced; 1 egg, 1 heaped tsp. roasted curry powder, a couple of sprigs of curry leaves (can substitute a few bay leaves or can be omitted), some vegetable oil, and salt.  I also used a little bit of garlic salt, a little chili powder, and a little lemon juice.  This is one dish that comes together quickly, so, it is best to have all the chopping and the slicing done, ahead of time.

Ingredients: Sliced lavash, onion, green chili, grated carrot, shredded lettuce, curry leaves, egg, curry powder

Step 3:  Heat up a frying pan, add oil, and saute the curry leaves, onions, and green chilies.  I do this first to flavor the oil.  If I had any mustard seeds, I might have added some of that, too, but, I used up all my mustard seeds in the peach chutney.

Saute the Ingredients

Add the egg and scramble it.  Then, add the cut up lavash, carrots, and lettuce.  One could use cabbage instead of lettuce or spring onions or leeks.  Lettuce is what I had and that's what I used.  I had to add a little more oil when I added the lavash.  I sprinkled the curry powder, a little garlic salt (one could add finely minced garlic, instead) and, just a little chili powder, too, because it wasn't spicy enough for me.  Then, I added some salt and lemon juice to taste.

One can leave out the egg, if a totally vegetarian meal is desired.  One can add meat to this, too - often, leftover chicken or beef curry is added to the koththu roti while it is being cooked.  I decided to add only the egg and leave the meat out.  It can be eaten as is or served with a curry on the side.  I left the curry leaves in, since curry leaves are edible; but, if bay leaves are added, then, they might need to be removed before the dish is eaten.

The Finished Dish

I served up half of what I made and took it over to neighbor S for her to try.  Then, I tucked into my portion.  It was very flavorful and made a filling brunch.  In fact, I couldn't finish all of it, so, I kept it for a snack, later on.

Do you think you might try to make some koththu roti with a flat bread like tortillas?