This is almost the same recipe for the vegan version as the non-vegan version — all I did to change it was take out the egg, and specify a vegan curry, rather than a meat one.
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Chopped Kottu Roti / Kottu Roti
(30 minutes, serves 4)
This is one of my favorite Sri Lankan dishes, though I don’t make it with as much flair as the street vendors, who wield massive knives chopping at furious speed. The curry sauce blends perfectly with the roti and the fresh vegetables, creating a soft, tender concoction.
4 rotis (or parathas or similar flatbreads), coarsely chopped
2-3 TBL vegetable oil
1 red onion, chopped
3 green chilies, chopped
1 stalk curry leaves
2 eggs, beaten with 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup green beans, chopped small
1 carrot, grated coarsely
1 leek, white and light green portion, sliced finely, grit washed off
1 cup leftover curry (any vegan curry will work, but it needs to have at least 1/2 cup of actual sauce)
1. Sauté onion, green chilies, and curry leaves in oil until lightly browned, about five minutes.
2. Add green beans, carrot, and leeks, and sauté until cooked through, about five more minutes.
3. Add rotis and mix thoroughly.
4. Add curry and mix thoroughly. Serve hot!
Note: As a variation, you can add half a chopped cabbage at step three, and reduce the amount of roti, for a more vegetal approach.
Note 2: I’ve made this with tortillas in a pinch, but rotis or paratha do a better job of sopping up the sauce. Naan is a little thick, so is not ideal, but if you’re desperate and have nothing else on hand, needs must.
The process:
You don’t *have* to make fresh roti for kottu roti. Frozen parathas from the Indian store will work just as well, and honestly, you can use tortillas in a pinch. But sometimes it’s nice to bake a little from scratch, and this is probably the easiest fresh bread recipe I know. A little mixing, 10 minutes of kneading, roll it up, ready to go.
If you don’t want to submerge the whole batch of roti in oil, you can do them one at a time in a little bowl. Slightly less efficient, but it works fine, and saves oil if you’re short. If you have plenty of oil, you can always reuse it for the curries you’re making to go with your roti. 🙂
You can use any vegan curry for your vegan kottu roti — you just need a cup of curry sauce to mix in. You could even make a base curry sauce without a vegetable at all — but why wouldn’t you make a vegetable curry? That you could then eat with your roti? I went for eggplant this time, but chickpea, jackfruit, mushroom, would all work well.
Eggplant curry. Mmm… Kevin doesn’t like eggplant; one of his few flaws. Interestingly, I didn’t like eggplant once upon a time, but it’s grown on me immensely. 🙂
It’s a little magic, seeing a ball of dough turn into bread. I don’t think I’ll ever really be a baker — I’m not precise enough to do it seriously. But I can see why people fall in love with it. If you’re looking for some great, relaxing reading, can I recommend to baking magic books? • Robin McKinley, Sunshine • T. Kingfisher, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
I specify red onion in the kottu roti, but honestly, that’s mostly because it’s pretty. Yellow onion or white onion will work just fine.
Kottu roti is a great way of using up veggies that are starting to go a little limp. I used green beans, carrots, and leeks in this, but really, whatever leftover veggies you want to stir-fry in will likely be fine. If you like how it tastes fried, you’re probably good. 🙂
Remember to ALWAYS thoroughly wash leeks before using. They get bits of dirt caught between the leaves as they grow, so you need to dump the thin-sliced leeks in a bowl, add water, swirl it around, and rinse that out. I usually rinse it 3-4 times, to be sure to get all the dirt. No one likes biting into grit. Americans are often startled that I use the green part of the leek, but while it’s not as delicate as the white, it’s just fine in this preparation. Just take off any tough outer leaves. Waste not, want not!
Sauté until golden. I love sautéing leeks, they smell so good.
Ready for the roti? In it goes…
If you have a giant wok and can do this last bit on high heat, you can feel like the cool guys who do this on the street in Sri Lanka, tossing it about, sizzling. 🙂
