Skip to content
FriendsPantry

Sri Lankan

Chicken kottu roti

Non-vegetarian

කොත්තු රොටි · Kottu roti

Sri Lanka's clattering street-food stir-fry: shredded flatbread chopped on a hot griddle with curried chicken, egg, leek, carrot and cabbage.

Chicken kottu roti is a Sri Lankan street food, ready in about 45 minutes and made with flour tortilla, chicken thigh and egg. It serves 3 and is rated easy to cook.

Start cooking
A serving of Kottu
Representative photo. Dan arndt / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-4.0
Prep
20 min
Cook
25 min
Total
45 min
Serves
3
Level
Easy
Calories
666

Ingredients

3 servings

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Toss the chicken with the curry powder (opens in a new tab), cayenne and half the salt. Fry in 1 tbsp oil in a wok (opens in a new tab) over high heat until cooked through, then add the water and simmer 3 minutes to make a little gravy. Set aside.

    Food safety: Cook chicken to 74 °C.

    Ingredients tossed in a hot wok
    How it looks · Photo: Aesthos AR. Photography on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Heat the remaining oil and stir-fry the onion (opens in a new tab), garlic (opens in a new tab), ginger, chilli and curry leaves (opens in a new tab) for 2 minutes. Add the leek (opens in a new tab), carrot (opens in a new tab) and cabbage (opens in a new tab) and stir-fry until just wilted.

    • 5 min
    • high heat

  3. Step 3

    Push the vegetables aside, crack in the eggs (opens in a new tab) and scramble until just set, then mix through.

    • 2 min
    • high heat

  4. Step 4

    Add the roti strips, chicken with its gravy, soy sauce (opens in a new tab) and remaining salt. Chop and toss everything together with two metal spatulas (or keep tossing) until the bread soaks up the gravy and is hot and slightly crisp.

    A curry simmering in a pot
    How it looks · Photo: Bachir Mamud on Pexels

About this dish

Origin
Sri Lanka · Well documentedThought to have developed among Tamil cooks in the east and become widespread from the 1970s; details are not well documented.More food from Sri Lanka
Dish
Dinner · Lunch · Street food · Main courses
Cooking method
Stir-fried
Taste
savoury, spicy (chilli heat), aromatic / warmly spiced
Diet
Dairy-free · No nut ingredients · High-protein
All labelsNon-vegetarian · Dairy-free · No nut ingredients · No added sugar · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · High-protein
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Street food · Uses leftovers
Cook more with
Flour tortilla · Chicken thigh · Egg · Curry powder · Cayenne / chilli powder · Onion
Techniques
Stir-frying · Simmering

Allergens

  • Contains: Eggsfrom egg
  • Contains: Wheatfrom flour tortilla, soy sauce
  • Contains: Glutenfrom flour tortilla, soy sauce
  • Contains: Soyfrom soy sauce
  • May contain: Mustardfrom curry powder
  • May contain: Celeryfrom curry powder

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

666 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 452 g · recipe makes 3

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 22%
  • Carbohydrate 37%
  • Fat 41%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
Energy666 kcal147 kcal
Protein36.3 g8 g
Carbohydrate61.8 g13.7 g
Net carbohydrate53.7 g11.9 g
Sugars9.2 g2 g
Added sugars0 g0 g
Fibre8.1 g1.8 g
Fat30.5 g6.7 g
Saturated fat6.4 g1.4 g
Trans fat0.1 g0 g
Cholesterol280 mg62 mg
Sodium1562 mg346 mg
Salt equivalent3.9 g0.9 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
791 mg
Calcium
251 mg
Iron
6.8 mg
Magnesium
86 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
290 µg
Vitamin C
37 mg
Vitamin D
1 µg
Vitamin B12
1.1 µg
Folate (DFE)
217 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
  • Not counted (tiny amounts or “to taste”): curry leaves.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Day-old roti works best — it absorbs gravy without turning mushy.

Common mistakes

  • Using too little gravy — the bread stays dry; add a splash more water or curry sauce.

Serve with

  • Serve with extra curry gravy on the side and a cold drink.

Storage

  • Best eaten immediately; leftovers keep 1 day refrigerated.

Reheating

  • Re-fry in a hot pan with a splash of water.

Variations

  • Cheese kottu: Finished with melted cheese, a popular modern street version.
  • Egg kottu: Leave out the chicken and use 2 extra eggs.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Used in steps 1, 2, 3, 4

Masalas in this recipe

Make the masala first, then come back to finish the dish.

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

You might also like