ramyaramesh3007This kothu parotta is a plant based version of the classic south indian street food where flaky shredded parottas are cooked in spices and herbs.
Kothu Parotta, also referred to as “Kothu,” is a popular street food dish from South India, particularly in TamilNadu and Sri Lanka – and they have slightly different ways of preparing it!
The dish was created as a way to use up leftover parottas. Vendors chopped the parotta into small pieces and stir fried it with various ingredients like vegetables, meat, eggs, aromatics and spices. The name “Kothu” translates to “chopped” in Tamil, which is how this delectable street food is prepared. In Sri Lanka, Kothu Roti, a similar dish is made with a type of flatbread called roti.
We’ll be using instant parottas to make this dish because it makes the process so much more quick and easy. Instead of parottas, you can also use any leftover idli (indian steamed rice cakes) or chapathis (similar to rotis).
Ingredients You Need
- instant parotta – they’re accidentally vegan! You can use fresh ones too if you’d like.
- aromatics – shallots, ginger, garlic, green chili, tomato
- dry spices – fennel, kashmiri chili powder, coriander, garam masala, turmeric
- seasoning – light soy sauce, sriracha salt, black pepper (you can also add 1-2 tbsp of leftover curry)
- vegetables of choice – red bell pepper, corn, peas
- protein – extra firm tofu, crumbled
Gluten free substitutions: Use a gluten free flatbread or idlis as the base. Use gluten free soy sauce / coconut aminos / tamari. Everything else is naturally gluten free!
Allium free substitutions: Omit ginger, garlic and shallots. Add a pinch of hing. Use alliums free chili sauce or sriracha.
‘Egg’ Kothu Parotta
Ingredients
- 4 instant flaky parottas
- 3-4 shallots, chopped finely
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 green chili
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 1 tsp fennel powder
- 1 tsp kashmiri chili powder
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1.5 tbsp sriracha / chili sauce / leftover curry
- salt
- black pepper
- 100 g extra firm tofu
Garnish
- chopped coriander
- sriracha
Instructions
- Heat a tawa (flat pan) and cook each parotta on medium heat until golden brown and cooked through on both sides, using a little oil. Keep them warm.
- Shred them or cut them into strips. Keep them aside.
- In a large pan or tawa, heat some oil. Add the chopped onions and green chilies, and sauté until the onions turn translucent. Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté for another minute.
- Add chopped tomato and saute for a few minutes. Add dry spices – fennel, chili powder, garam masala, turmeric, coriander and saute until the oil separates from the mixture.
- Crumble some tofu in, give it a good mix and saute for a few minutes.
- Add soy sauce, sriracha, salt and black pepper. Mix well.
- Add the shredded parotta to the pan and mix everything well. Toss to combine – add more sriracha if needed.
- Adjust salt according to taste. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, allowing the flavours to blend. Garnish with sriracha drizzle and fresh coriander leaves.