Kothu Parotta

I've always been fascinated by Parottas and their variations ever since I was a child. Growing up in Madurai which is famous for its roadside parotta stalls, I've tasted it quite often but mostly it was the plain parottas with a vegetable kurma as a side (not a combination that you normally find in the roadside stalls since they usually have some non-vegetarian curry). The elusive

'Kothu parotta' was out of my reach unfortunately since I almost never came across a vegetarian version of it. Yet, the 'tun-tun-tun' noise you hear as they mince the parotta makes your mouth water, just by imagining its taste.

Luck soon favoured me... the very first time I had it was at the 'Madura Coats Club' - where Friday night movies in an open-air theater were the norm with a lip-smacking snack at around 7:30pm. Almost all the time I went in on Fridays was for the yummy food - not so much the movies. They always had something different on the menu, something more exciting than the usual fare that we normally eat at home. On one glorious day it was 'Kothu Parotta' - both veg and non-veg versions of it so I had a taste *finally* and loved it.

Sometime back, I started searching for recipes of kothu parotta and devised my own version based on what I read and what I remembered... This dish is however not a regular at our home, mainly because I know now that parottas are not the healthiest food (after I saw how they were made - with immense amounts of oil and also because it is purely maida instead of whole wheat flour) but when we crave it, or when I'm short on time this is perfect. I have absolutely no patience to make the parottas from scratch so I just use the frozen parottas that we get here in the US (not the Malaysia Kawan Paratha) - the small round, flaky ones.

KOTHU PAROTTA
Ingredients

Parottas - 5

Onion - 1, medium size, chopped

G. Chillies - 3, chopped fine

Tomato - 1, small, chopped

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp

Channa/Dried Green Peas - 1/2 cup, soaked & cooked with salt

Bell pepper - half, chopped

Curry leaves - few, chopped

Eggs - 1 or 2

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp

Pepper - 1/4 tsp (or to taste)

Salt

Oil - 2 tsp

Method

1. Cook the parotta on a tawa and tear it into small pieces

2. In a wide skillet, heat oil, add curry leaves, onions, g. chillies & ginger-garlic paste. Saute for a while. Now add the channa/peas and bell peppers. Once they cook a bit, add the tomatoes and salt.

3. Once the tomatoes get mushy, push the vegetables to the corner of the skillet and in the middle, pour the eggs and scramble them with a little salt and pepper.

4. Mix the vegetables and egg once they are done and add the parotta pieces.

Update: Add some of this Thin Kurma to give it a lot of flavour and some moisture.

5. Now add the spice powders, mix them and let it fry on a medium flame till it's well cooked and gets a bit crispy.

You can add vegetables of your choice and it tastes good even without the eggs.