Kottu (Tamil: கொத்து ரொட்டி; Sinhala: කොත්තු රොටි), or Kottu rothi (also spelled Koththu or Kotthu), is a Sri Lankan dish made from broken rothi or paratha, mixed with onion and curry leaves, and a choice of protein (such as beef, lamb, seafood, chicken) along with scrambled eggs.
Served hot with a sprinkle of pepper.
Rothi is a type of flatbread called “Godhambara roti” or “Godamba roti” (also known as roti canai), which originated in Malaysia and is very similar to the Indian paratha.
A variation of the dish is found in the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, known as kottu porotta (Tamil: கொத்து பரோட்டா; Malayalam: കൊത്തു പൊറ ോട്ട), made using porotta instead of roti.
Recently, another South Indian dish, Idli, has also been prepared and sold this way as Kottu Idli.
The word koththu means “chop” in Tamil, referring to the preparation method, as the ingredients are chopped together using special cleavers, while being stir-fried on a hot griddle.
When the chopped pieces of paratha or roti are finally added, they are chopped and mixed by repeatedly beating with heavy iron blades/spatulas, the sound of which is very distinctive and can usually be heard from a long distance.
My version is with beef, but you can replace it with chicken or lamb, or make a version with just vegetables.
In the video, the preparation of the one from my trip to Sri Lanka in October 2025.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Sri Lankan
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 400 g Godhambara roti (or paratha)
- 500 g beef (I used sirloin, or chicken or lamb)
- 2 eggs
- 4 cloves garlic
- to taste curry powder
- 3 green chili
- 2 carrots
- 10 curry leaves
- 1 onion
- to taste black pepper
- to taste fresh ginger
- to taste turmeric
- to taste vegetable oil
Steps
If you couldn’t find paratha, you can prepare it by following the recipe.
In a pan, sauté the onion in oil, add the garlic (3), chopped ginger, curry powder, julienned carrots, the chili, and curry leaves.
Add the meat cut into strips.
Stir-fry for a few minutes.
Beat the eggs and add them.
Add the shredded rotis (paratha) and mix with the vegetables and meat.
Stir frequently until the roti is fully coated with all the spices and vegetables.
Cook for about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle with black pepper and turmeric, stirring quickly over high heat.
Curry powder (Sri Lankan curry powder) if homemade, toasted, contains coriander, cumin, fennel, turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, cardamom.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Could Arab and Persian influences during the Islamic expansion (7th-15th centuries) in Sri Lanka have impacted kottu? Or is it really too recent?
Kottu as we know it is modern, but the concept of cutting flatbread, mixing it with spicy ingredients in a pan, has cultural and technical parallels that could very well have Arab/Persian origins, even though there is no documented direct link, for example with dishes like fattoush.
The Kottu Roti, in its current form, is a relatively recent creation (1970s-1980s), born in post-colonial Sri Lanka, mainly as urban street food based on chopped roti, vegetables, eggs or meat, and spices. However, some of its components — flatbreads, rapid stir-frying, intense spices, mixture of ingredients — may have older roots and external influences.
• Arab and Persian cuisine: during the centuries of Islamic expansion, Arab and Persian communities brought with them:
flatbreads similar to roti or chapati
techniques of mingling and stewing with spices (e.g., kabsa, harees, thareed)
use of meats, onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander — all ingredients now common in kottu.
• Influences from Tamil-Muslim cuisine in South India, which itself absorbed many Islamic influences (especially in Tamil Nadu and Eastern Sri Lanka), where dishes based on chopped roti, similar (but not identical) to kottu, can be found.
For a Low Fodmap version, as seen in the video below, I recommend using a Low FodMap piada from My Rea instead of paratha or roti, which you can purchase on the MyRea website with the discount code viaggiandomangiando10.
