Kati roll

A skewer-roasted kebab rolled in a paratha, and the name is the skewer.

Chicken, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

• 600 g boneless chicken thigh, in 3 cm pieces
• 200 ml plain yoghurt
• 3 tablespoons ginger and garlic paste
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 300 g plain flour
• 4 tablespoons ghee
• about 170 ml water
• 4 eggs
• 2 onions, sliced thin
• 4 tablespoons coriander chutney
• 1 lime

Method

1. A SKEWER-ROASTED KEBAB ROLLED IN A PARATHA, AND THE NAME IS THE SKEWER. Its article gives the original form and then the etymology that explains it: in its original form it is A SKEWER-ROASTED KEBAB WRAPPED IN A PARATHA BREAD, and IN NATIVE BENGALI, THE WORD ROUGHLY TRANSLATES TO 'STICK', REFERRING TO HOW THEY WERE ORIGINALLY MADE. The stick is not in the finished thing and the dish still carries its name.
2. AND THE ARTICLE IS HONEST THAT THE NAME HAS SPREAD. TODAY, MOSTLY ANY WRAP CONTAINING A FILLING ENFOLDED IN AN INDIAN FLATBREAD (ROTI) IS CALLED A KATI ROLL. This method makes the older one, with the kebab actually skewered.
3. MARINATE THE CHICKEN IN YOGHURT FOR FOUR HOURS. Thigh rather than breast: it survives a skewer. Yoghurt, ginger, garlic, chilli, garam masala, lemon and salt.
4. SKEWER IT AND COOK IT OVER DIRECT HEAT, NOT IN A PAN. Metal skewers over coals, or under a grill turned as high as it goes, eight or ten minutes, turning, until the edges char. The char is the flavour the dish was built around.
5. THE PARATHA IS LAMINATED, WHICH IS WHY IT HOLDS. Flour, ghee rubbed in, water, kneaded and rested; then rolled, greased, folded and rolled again twice. A plain roti tears as soon as it is rolled round a filling.
6. COOK EACH PARATHA, THEN BREAK AN EGG ONTO IT IN THE PAN. This is the part people get wrong by doing it separately. Beat an egg, pour it into the pan, and lay the hot paratha straight on top so the egg sets onto the bread as one piece. Flip it once.
7. THE FILLING IS CHUTNEY, ONION AND LIME, AND IT IS NOT MUCH. Its article's own list is CORIANDER CHUTNEY, EGG, AND CHICKEN. Raw onion sliced thin, a spoon of chutney, a squeeze of lime.
8. ROLL IT TIGHT, WRAP THE BOTTOM HALF IN PAPER, AND EAT IT STANDING UP. Its article records the first of them at the Nizam Restaurant in Kolkata, founded in 1932, and that Nizam ENJOYED A VIRTUAL MONOPOLY OVER THIS METHOD OF SERVING KABABS FOR DECADES.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes