Kothu Parotta - Indian Street Food Made at Home

Background <1 Minute:

Street food is the best part of traveling. One of our favorites from our trips to India is kothu parotta (koh-thu pah-rot-ta). Part of the fun is watching the person preparing it quickly chop everything with a sharp spatula and toss it into a mound of flavorful yumminess. My version is slightly more boring one as I make the parathas and cut them ahead of time. The rest is sautéing onions, curry leaves, fennel seeds, green chilies, tomatoes, eggs, and cilantro among a few other ingredients. After you combine that with the parathas, you get a delicious kothu parotta!

Ingredients:

• 6 parathas, cooked and cut into small 1- 1 ½ ” squares
• ¼ tsp Mumbai Spice Company mustard seeds
• 20-25 curry leaves
• 1- 3 green chilies, finely chopped (based on your preferred heat level)
• 1 heaping tsp crushed garlic
• 1 ½ tsp grated ginger
• 1 large onion, ½ cut thinly then into quarters and the other ½ chopped
• 12-14 grape tomatoes or equivalent for Roma or Campari tomatoes
• 1 tsp kosher salt (adjust to preferred taste)
• 1 ½ tsp rasam powder (can find in any Indian grocery store)
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• ½ lime 
• ½ tsp turbinado sugar
• oil 

Instructions:

1. Heat a pan and add a little oil to coat the bottom. Once the oil is ot enough, add in the mustard seeds and wait for it to pop. As soon as it slows down popping, add the curry leaves followed 30 seconds later by the green chilis.
   
   
2. Then, add the chopped onions with the garlic, ginger, and a little salt. Sauté for a minute before adding the thinly sliced onions. Continue cooking until the onions turn lightly golden in color. 
   
   
3. At this stage, add the chopped tomatoes and give everything a stir to combine. Then, sprinkle in the rasam powder and black pepper. After a minute, sprinkle in the brown sugar. 
   
   
4. Push the onion tomato mixture to the sides of the pan, and add a little more oil to the center. Once the oil is heated, pour the beaten eggs and stir to scramble. As it cooks, combine the egg with the seasoned onions and tomatoes. 
   
   
5. As soon as the eggs are combined, add the cooked paratha that has been cut into the small squares and toss everything together, using your spatula to chop and stir the paratha into even smaller pieces. Squeeze the juice of ½ a small lime and stir again.  Taste for salt and sugar and adjust. 
   
   
6. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro to garnish before serving.
   
   
7. Note: If you have leftover chicken or mutton gravy, you can leave out the garlic/ginger and use a few spoons of the gravy instead. This tastes the best!

Veda Sankaran 

Recipe Developer - Owner Jalsa By Veda

Veda is an Indian American mom, wife, teacher, and business woman living in Pittsburgh. Her professional background is in education, but she developed a love of food after 20+ years of cooking for her family. She cooks traditional Indian food, and her strength lies in creativity. She can take spices and flavors of Indian cuisine and use them to create new and unique recipes. Through constant recipe development and creating menus for local pop up dinners in Pittsburgh, she gives reigns to her creativity to use food as a medium for exploring the many facets of identity.

Find her on instagram @jalsabyveda