Kolkata street food born at the Nizam's restaurant: skewer-roasted meat ('kathi' means stick) rolled into a flaky, egg-fried paratha with onions and lime. It is the subcontinent's native kebab wrap, predating the shawarma-style rolls now common in Indian cities.
Also known as: kathi roll, kati roll, kolkata kathi roll, kathi kabab, काठी कबाब
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 500 g chicken thigh, in strips
- 100 g yogurt
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp each Kashmiri chili powder and garam masala, plus 15 ml mustard oil
- 4 laccha parathas (frozen ones work)
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1 red onion, in thin rings, splashed with lime
- Green chutney (coriander-mint-chili)
- Chaat masala and lime wedges
How to make it
- 1
Marinate the chicken in yogurt, ginger-garlic, spices and mustard oil for 2 hours.
- 2
Sear the strips on a screaming tawa or under a grill until the edges catch, about 8 minutes, then chop roughly.
- 3
Pour a beaten egg onto the hot greased pan and immediately press a paratha on top; flip when the egg sets so the layers fuse.
- 4
Lay the egg-side up, pile on chicken, onion rings, chutney and a pinch of chaat masala.
- 5
Roll snugly, collar the bottom half in paper, and hand it over.
Pro tip: Egg on the pan first, paratha pressed onto it: that order welds a lacy omelet skin onto the bread the way Nizam's of Kolkata did it, and it keeps the roll from going soggy.
