Growing up in Chennai, I used to often visit “military hotels” – or Chettinadu mess, as some of them are called now – for Kothu Paratha. One of the cheapest street food dishes you can get, Kothu Paratha is chopped Malabar parotta scrambled with eggs or chicken curry or mutton. The curry usually does not have meaty pieces, mostly just offcuts. In fact, we would be lucky to even find a piece of chicken. We didn’t mind, though. Easy on the wallets, it was the perfect after-school snack for us. Even now, you can see people queuing up at street-side stalls after a night of partying for Kothu Paratha. This is a super nostalgic dish for me, something I have recreated from memory.

  • 4

  • Cook Time

    1h

Ingredients

For Curry Paste

  • ½ cup grated coconut
  • 3 tbsp oil
  • 2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp poppy seeds
  • 5 cashew nuts
  • 5 soaked red chillies
  • 3 cloves
  • 2 dagad phool
  • 1 green cardamom
  • 1-inch cinnamon stick

For Curry

  • 500 gm boneless chicken leg
  • 200 gm sliced onions
  • 100 gm sliced tomatoes
  • 200 ml coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
  • 3 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • ¼ tsp turmeric
  • 5-6 curry leaves
  • 3 green chillies, slit
  • 2 cloves
  • 1-inch cinnamon
  • Curry paste
  • Salt to taste

To Finish

  • 6 pcs Malabar parotta, cooked and shredded fine
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tbsp oil
  • ½ cup chopped onion
  • ½ cup chopped tomato
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro
  • Kothu curry with chopped chicken
  • Salt to taste

Preparation

For Curry Paste

  1. Cook all ingredients in oil until very slightly golden. Blend to a smooth paste.

For Curry

  1. Place a saucepan on low heat, add oil with whole spices and bloom them until fragrant.
  2. Follow with sliced onions and cook for 5-7 minutes, until golden brown.
  3. Toss in ginger garlic paste and cook out the raw flavour for around 2- 3 minutes.
  4. Next, add tomatoes and cook until mushy. This should take 5-6 minutes.
  5. Add green chillies and continue to stir for 1 minute.
  6. Drop the powdered masalas into the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring regularly.
  7. Now add curry paste along with chicken and mix properly. Pour in coconut milk and stew for 15-20 minutes.
  8. Season with salt and finish with 5-6 curry leaves.
  9. Once it's cool, pull out the chicken pieces, chop them up and add back to the curry.

To Finish

  1. Heat a large saute pan, pour in oil and add onions and tomatoes. Cook for around 2-3 minutes. Season with salt.
  2. Crack eggs into a bowl, whisk, add to the onion-tomato mix and scramble quickly.
  3. Once the mix looks like a bhurji, spoon in shredded Malabar parotta.
  4. Mix thoroughly and toss in chicken curry one cup at a time (around 2-3 cups), always mixing. The mix needs to be moist and shredded but not wet.
  5. Any remaining curry can be served on the side or consumed later. It keeps well in the refrigerator for three days and can be eaten with steamed rice.
Hussain Shahzad

Hussain Shahzad

Hussain Shahzad, the Executive Chef at O Pedro, a Goa-inspired restaurant in Mumbai, is Scroll Food’s Chef of the Month for October. He started his career with the Oberoi Group of Hotels in Mumbai, before moving to New York, where he worked at the iconic Eleven Madison Park. His culinary adventures have taken him around the world and included a brief stint as a personal chef to Roger Federer. Before taking the reins at O Pedro, he was a part of the team at the award-winning The Bombay Canteen. A dynamic and bold chef, Hussain’s food philosophy is to showcase local produce using contemporary culinary techniques.

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