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.
The story of Kathi Kebab Roll
The kathi roll is Kolkata's gift to Indian street food and the subcontinent's own kebab wrap — skewer-roasted meat rolled into a flaky, egg-fried paratha with onions and lime. Kathi means stick, referring to the skewer, and the dish is generally credited to Nizam's restaurant in Kolkata in the first half of the twentieth century.
The origin story is a practical one: British customers wanted the kebab without the grease on their hands, so the kitchen wrapped it in paratha. Whether or not that is precisely how it happened, the roll predates the shawarma-style wraps now common in Indian cities by decades and is a genuinely native format.
The technique that defines it
The egg is the structural trick. A paratha is partially cooked, then a beaten egg is poured onto the griddle and the paratha pressed into it so the egg fries onto one face. That egg layer both stiffens the bread and waterproofs it, so the roll holds juicy filling without going soggy — the problem every other wrap in this book has.
The paratha itself is laminated: rolled, oiled, coiled and re-rolled so it cooks in flaky layers rather than as a flat disc. The meat, grilled separately on skewers, goes onto the egged face with sliced onion, chilli and a hard squeeze of lime, and it is rolled in paper.
Choosing your ingredients
Mutton, chicken or paneer, cut small and marinated in yoghurt with ginger-garlic, chilli and garam masala, then grilled on skewers. Kolkata versions lean sharper and less creamy than Punjabi tandoori marinades.
The paratha wants plain flour, water, salt and ghee or oil, laminated. Eggs, one per roll. Thinly sliced red onion, green chilli, lime, and a chaat masala or a light chutney. Do not overload the filling — the roll must close.
Mistakes that ruin it
Skipping the egg layer
It is what keeps the paratha from going soggy under juicy filling. A plain paratha roll falls apart.
An unlaminated paratha
Rolling, oiling, coiling and re-rolling is what gives the flakiness. A flat rolled disc is a chapati, not a paratha.
Overfilling
It must close and be eaten in the hand. More filling than the bread can wrap defeats the format.
Skipping the lime
The roll is rich and the onion is sharp; the lime is what pulls it together. It goes on at the end, not in the marinade.
How it is served
Rolled in paper and eaten walking, with extra lime and green chilli. In Kolkata it is bought from a counter and eaten on the street, and the paper is part of the design. It does not keep — the egg layer buys you ten minutes, not an hour.
Questions about Kathi Kebab Roll
What does kathi mean?
Stick, referring to the skewer the meat is grilled on. The name distinguishes it from other rolls.
Why is egg fried onto the paratha?
It stiffens and waterproofs the bread so the roll holds juicy filling without going soggy. It is the defining technical feature.
Where did the kathi roll originate?
Nizam's restaurant in Kolkata, in the first half of the twentieth century. It predates shawarma-style wraps in India by decades.
Can I make it with paneer?
Yes — paneer kathi rolls are standard, and the technique is identical. Marinate and grill the paneer as you would for tikka.
