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How to make chicken kathi roll?

I left my hometown, Calcutta, exactly seven years ago. Since then, Calcutta has become something of a vacation home for me, where I get to go only once every year to enjoy my mom’s home-cooked food, the company of my beautiful family and friends, chicken Kathi rolls, and the freedom from grad school. And every year I lamentably realize that Calcutta has undergone a significant transformation since my last visit, cruelly reminding me of my distance. Sometimes, the transformation is so stark and complete, especially in the architecture of the city, that I have to stop, take a minute to notice the change around me, and to remember what occupied this unrecognizable space before. Sometimes I am successful, sometimes I need help (but this can very well be a problem with my memory than the city’s changing landscape).

Some of my most special and happy memories of Calcutta (and there are a trillion! It is my home, after all) are deeply entangled with remembered sojourns to the inexpensive College Street restaurants and cabins (small inexpensive local restaurants), and momentous discoveries of food. Luckily, my favorite old food destinations have not changed a bit. The neon lights marking their unflashy existence, the sounds of metal spatulas perpetually clanking against thick cast-iron skillets, the damp tabletops, and the smell of rosewater and onions suspended in these crowded cubbyholes have preserved the old Calcutta for me. 

Calcutta has a distinct and vibrant street food culture. The kabiraji cutlets, Mughlai paranthas, fish fries, chops and chicken kathi rolls, with their royal and colonial provenance, have become more than street food. Calcutta street foods are meticulously crafted nostalgia on paper plates, embedded in the personal and shared social/local histories. People here are gripped by the romantic and nostalgic potential that street food has to offer: no matter how much Calcutta changes, her street food will always perpetuate the histories of the city. Some of the romance of Calcutta street food is in its ceremony – gathering around carts in groups, and chatting endlessly about Calcutta with friends and neighbors (also, often with strangers) while peeling the parchment paper from the rolls.

After rosogolla and misti doi, chicken kati roll is, perhaps, the most popular and characteristic Calcutta food. A visit to Calcutta without a taste of chicken kati roll is considered incomplete by all Calcuttans (and tourists for that matter). I find the whole one-year-gap-before-I-can-taste-a-chicken-kati-roll completely unbearable. So, I have come up with this quick, easy, somewhat healthy, no-fail method to emulate authentic chicken kati rolls.

I use the store bought, frozen paranthas to save time. I also use wheat tortillas as a healthier option. If you are a vegetarian, you can easily substitute the chicken with paneer (cubed cottage cheese).

How to make chicken kathi roll?

I left my hometown, Calcutta, exactly seven years ago. Since then, Calcutta has become something of a vacation home for me, where I get to go only once every year to enjoy my mom’s home-cooked food, the company of my beautiful family and friends, chicken Kathi rolls, and the freedom from grad school. And every year I lamentably realize that Calcutta has undergone a significant transformation since my last visit, cruelly reminding me of my distance. Sometimes, the transformation is so stark and complete, especially in the architecture of the city, that I have to stop, take a minute to notice the change around me, and to remember what occupied this unrecognizable space before. Sometimes I am successful, sometimes I need help (but this can very well be a problem with my memory than the city’s changing landscape).

Some of my most special and happy memories of Calcutta (and there is a trillion! It is my home, after all) are deeply entangled with remembered sojourns to the inexpensive College Street restaurants and cabins (small inexpensive local restaurants), and momentous discoveries of food. Luckily, my favorite old food destinations have not changed a bit. The neon lights marking their unflashy existence, the sounds of metal spatulas perpetually clanking against thick cast-iron skillets, the damp tabletops, and the smell of rosewater and onions suspended in these crowded cubbyholes have preserved the old Calcutta for me. 

Calcutta has a distinct and vibrant street food culture. The kabiraji cutlets, Mughlai paranthas, fish fries, chops and chicken kathi rolls, with their royal and colonial provenance, have become more than street food. Calcutta street foods are meticulously crafted nostalgia on paper plates, embedded in the personal and shared social/local histories. People here are gripped by the romantic and nostalgic potential that street food has to offer: no matter how much Calcutta changes, her street food will always perpetuate the histories of the city. Some of the romance of Calcutta street food is in its ceremony – gathering around carts in groups, and chatting endlessly about Calcutta with friends and neighbors (also, often with strangers) while peeling the parchment paper from the rolls.

After rosogolla and misti doi, chicken kati roll is, perhaps, the most popular and characteristic Calcutta food. A visit to Calcutta without a taste of chicken kati roll is considered incomplete by all Calcuttans (and tourists for that matter). I find the whole one-year-gap-before-I-can-taste-a-chicken-kati-roll completely unbearable. So, I have come up with this quick, easy, somewhat healthy, no-fail method to emulate authentic chicken kati rolls.

I use the store-bought, frozen paranthas to save time. I also use wheat tortillas as a healthier option. If you are a vegetarian, you can easily substitute the chicken with paneer (cubed cottage cheese).

Check out my left-over chicken roll recipe if you want chicken rolls but don’t want such an elaborate procedure. 

Chicken kathi roll recipe

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Ingredients

  

• 6 paranthas/rotis/tortilla/naans

For chicken kebabs

• 500 grams boneless skinless chicken
• 1/2 cup strained or Greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tbsp chaat masala powder
• 1 tbsp oil plus more for frying paranthas or rotis
• 1 tbsp lime juice

For veggie stuffing

• 2 cups onions sliced
• 1 cup bell pepper sliced
• oil for frying

For finishing

• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp black pepper powder
• 1 tbsp chaat masala
• 2 limes cut into wedges
• 2-3 green chilies chopped

Instructions

 

• Mix all the ingredients listed under "for the chicken" category, and refrigerate for an hour.
• Meanwhile, saute the onions over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Transfer the onions to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain.
• Add the sliced bell peppers to the same pan and saute until soft. Transfer to the same paper-towel-lined plate.
• Set the oven temperature to broil (high).
• Using metal skewers (if using wooden skewers, soak the skewers in water for at least 12 hours), broil the chicken for 5-6 minutes on each side or until done.
• While the chicken cooks, prepare 6 paranthas/rotis/tortillas/naans.

Assemble

• Mix salt, black pepper powder, and chaat masala powder in a bowl.
• Place a parantha on a plate. Put 8-10 pieces of chicken kebabs in the center, top it with the fried veggies. Finish with squeezed lime and finishing spices. Sprinkle some sliced raw onions and chopped green chilies if desired. Wrap it in grease or parchment paper. Serve HOT!

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