Kori rotti

Crisp dry rice wafers under a coconut milk and red chilli chicken curry.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg chicken on the bone, in pieces
• 12 dried red chillies
• 400 ml thick coconut milk
• 200 ml thin coconut milk
• 60 g fresh coconut, grated
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 8 black peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 6 cloves garlic
• a 4 cm piece of ginger
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 tablespoons tamarind juice
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 300 g boiled rice, for the wafers

Method

1. CRISP DRY RICE WAFERS UNDER A COCONUT MILK AND RED CHILLI CHICKEN CURRY -- two separate things that only meet on the plate. Its article defines the dish as exactly that pairing: A COMBINATION OF RED CHILI AND COCONUT MILK-BASED CHICKEN CURRY AND CRISP, DRY WAFERS MADE FROM BOILED RICE. KORI MEANS CHICKEN IN TULU, and rotti is the wafer.
2. THE WAFERS ARE MADE FROM BOILED RICE, NOT RICE FLOUR. Its article is specific and the difference is large: cooked rice ground to a batter gives a wafer that goes glassy and shatters, which is what this dish wants under a wet curry.
3. GRIND THE BOILED RICE TO A THIN BATTER AND SPREAD IT AS THIN AS YOU CAN. Three hundred grams of cooked rice with enough water to pour, spread on a hot flat griddle in sheets, cooked dry on both sides, then dried out completely in a low oven until they snap. They keep for weeks.
4. THE CURRY'S PASTE IS ROASTED BEFORE IT IS GROUND. Chillies, coriander, cumin, fenugreek and peppercorns in a dry pan until they smell toasted, then ground with the fresh coconut, garlic, ginger and turmeric and a little water.
5. FRY THE PASTE IN COCONUT OIL UNTIL IT DARKENS. Ten minutes with the onions. Coconut oil is not interchangeable here -- it is the background of the whole Tulu coast.
6. THE CHICKEN GOES IN WITH THE THIN COCONUT MILK ONLY. Thirty minutes at a simmer. Thick coconut milk boiled for half an hour splits and goes oily.
7. THE THICK MILK GOES IN AT THE END AND MUST NOT BOIL. Five minutes off a rolling heat, with the tamarind. The gravy should be loose -- it has to soak into a wafer.
8. BREAK THE WAFERS INTO A BOWL AND POUR THE CURRY OVER AT THE TABLE. Not before: they go from crisp to soft in about a minute and the contrast is the dish. Its article notes kori rotti is A COMPULSORY DISH ON SUNDAYS AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS IN TULUNADU HOMES.

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.

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