How & Why to Make Chicken Kottu (a Classic Sri Lankan Street Food)

Photo Source: Shamli071 via Wikimedia Commons

Not every trip I take is to a foreign land. Some are to the Asian grocery store in my hometown to make dishes like Sri Lankan chicken kottu in my own American kitchen.

Food is a powerful bridge to other places, cultures, flavors…even memories. As I’m not traveling right now, I find myself conjuring up scenes in my mind from trips past and leaning on each destination’s cuisine as a way to keep me connected to them. (That, or books, of course).

And while I can easily find my way to a plate of pad Thai, a steaming bowl of pho, or even a roasted Peruvian chicken that rivals any I had while living in Cusco, what I can’t seem to find in my local area is Sri Lankan cuisine — its rice and curry, pol sambol, string hoppers, kottu, and kiribath (milk rice). It’s a cuisine my taste buds still crave, but one that isn’t readily available here at home (home being northern Virginia, USA).

Which leaves me with just one solution when the craving hits: make it myself.

The first kottu I ever tasted in Sri Lanka. I was at a hotel (read: restaurant) in Negombo. It was love at first bite!

What is Kottu?

Of all the Sri Lankan dishes I miss, kottu tops the list.

Kottu is essentially a stir-fry of chopped flatbread (roti), vegetables, eggs, spices, and — optionally — meat, all cooked together on a hot griddle. It’s a staple of street food stalls across Sri Lanka and is widely considered the ultimate comfort food (or hangover cure, depending on who you ask). It’s most often eaten for dinner or as a late-night snack.

From Eating Kottu to Making It for the First Time — and for My Family

Before I take you to the recipe, let me take you on the adventure that was preparing it — because this is a travel blog, not a food blog, after all. And around here, we’re just as much about the journey as the destination, right?

To make a proper kottu, you need the right roti (flatbread) and spices. That fact alone sent me off my beaten path to an Asian grocery store I’d never stepped foot in before: Lotte Plaza Market.

I’ve probably driven by it countless times, but until now, I’d never had a reason to wander in. I’ve never needed more than what my usual Harris Teeter stocks.

As soon as I walked through the doors — behind a steady stream of Indian, Asian, Hispanic, and African shoppers — I stepped into a world that felt a lot like traveling. Or at the very least, like wandering a grocery store in a foreign country — right down to the curious stares from customers who weren’t used to seeing someone who looked like me there.

I had a list of ingredients I’d probably need help finding, but I kept getting distracted by the rows of imported goods from Asia, Latin America, India, and the Middle East. For a traveler who isn’t currently traveling, it was a total surprise — and such a treat.

What I quickly realized while shopping was this: I wasn’t just making dinner anymore — I was on a full-on adventure.

An adventure that also meant playing cultural ambassador for Sri Lanka in my own household. It was an experience, and a powerful, many-layered one at that.

With the paratha roti and chicken masala powder I definitely took too long to find and select, I finally checked out and headed home — ready for the next thrill of the adventure: preparing kottu for the first time in my life.

As I made it, memories from my own trip to Sri Lanka flooded back.

I remembered the sharp clanging of knife on metal at street food stalls — a sure sign that kottu was sizzling on the griddle. I took that as permission to make a little noise of my own as I chopped the roti into bite-sized strips.

From the frying pan, the smell of cinnamon mingling with cayenne, curry, ginger, and garlic rose to my nose — a vivid reminder of just how unique Sri Lankan flavors are, and why I love this country’s cuisine so much.

The sweet and savory smell filled the house, whetting the appetite and curiosity of my family — all of them eagerly waiting to take not just their first bite of kottu, but their very first taste of Sri Lanka.

As I plated the now-ready kottu for my family, I found myself sharing new threads of detail from my Sri Lanka trip, speaking about it like it was yesterday — not nearly a year and a half ago.

It felt like, at least for this meal, we’d transported ourselves — not to Sri Lanka (I’m no master chef) — but to a place where my love for Sri Lanka and my experience there could be received more deeply by my family, more viscerally than the photos and words I’d shared before.

I watched each of them take their first bite, eyes opening wide, mouths murmuring mmm as the flavors touched their tongues. As soon as they could speak, it was pure praise, pure appreciation. I knew then that Sri Lanka would never again be just another place their nomadic daughter, stepdaughter, and sister had ventured off to somewhere along the way.

They were part of it now — with me — even if only through this one delicious thread, this shared memory of tasting Sri Lankan kottu together for the first time.

Ready to taste it yourself?

What You’ll Need to Make Kottu Yourself:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1/2 a medium-sized onion

• 1 tbsp minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

• 1 tbsp minced ginger

• 6 large jalapenos - I used jarred banana pepper rings instead

• 1 cup sliced leeks (white part only) - I used green onions instead

• 1/4 of a cabbage

• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

• 2 cups of shredded chicken - I used rotisserie chicken

• curry spice blend - recipe below (or leftover curry sauce if you have some)

• 1 cup grated carrots

• 3 eggs

• 1 cup shredded cheese - I used cheddar

• salt and pepper

• 1 lb chopped roti (or flour tortillas) - I used frozen paratha roti that I found at the Asian grocery store

Curry Spice Blend

• 1 tbsp curry powder - I used a pre-blended chicken masala powder and it worked beautifully

• 1/3 cup chicken stock

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Chicken Kottu Recipe

For the step-by-step instructions, you’ll have to head over to The Flavor Bender, like I did. Dini Kodippili, a self-proclaimed “third culture kid” born in Sri Lanka but raised in places like New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S., has developed a mean chicken kottu recipe that I can attest will transport you to the Sri Lankan street food stalls that inspired it.

On her site, you’ll not only gain deeper insight into this famous Sri Lankan dish, but she also offers recipe variations and substitutions you can try to tailor the dish to your taste and what’s available in your area.

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