Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Kottu Roti
Chopped flatbread stir-fried with curry, vegetables, and egg on a clanging griddle, Colombo’s midnight anthem.
Sri Lankan · easy · serves 3
prep 20 min · cook 15 min
~653 cal · 51g protein · 43g carbs · 30g fat · 8g fiber · 10g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kottu roti is Sri Lanka's beloved street food and the sound of its cities at night, shredded godamba flatbread stir-fried on a hot griddle with vegetables, egg, and curry, chopped rhythmically with two metal blades whose clanging is unmistakable. Born as a way to use up leftover roti, it became a national obsession.
The dish is all about texture and the theatrical chopping that mixes the bread with the fillings, absorbing the curry and spice. It ranges from simple vegetable versions to ones loaded with chicken, cheese, or seafood, each cook and cart with its own style.
Sold from bustling street stalls in Colombo and across the island, especially late into the evening, kottu is cheap, filling, and endlessly customizable.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 3
6 godamba roti (or flour tortillas), sliced into ribbons
2 cups chicken curry with gravy (or curry sauce)
2 eggs
1 cup leeks, shredded
1 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup cabbage, shredded
1 onion
2 green chilies
1 tbsp ginger, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp chili flakes
3 tbsp
1 lime
Instructions
1
Fry the onion, ginger, garlic, and chilies in oil, then add the shredded vegetables and cook 3 minutes.
2
Push everything to one side and scramble the eggs (or turmeric tofu) in the pan.
3
Add the roti ribbons and half the curry gravy, and toss hard.
4
Chop and fold the mixture with two spatulas, drumming rhythmically for 3 to 4 minutes, so the bread frays and drinks up the curry.
✎ Chef’s note
The chopping-and-folding with two blades (the sound kottu is named for) shreds the roti finer and works the gravy through every strand. Keep it moving.
5
Loosen with more gravy, finish with lime, and serve hot with extra curry sauce alongside.
Colombo griddle tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Western Province (Colombo). Kottu did not start here. It comes from the east coast, from Batticaloa and Trincomalee and the Sri Lankan Moor community, and it began as a use for day-old godamba roti that a baker could not sell. Colombo took it up wholesale and made the noise of it the sound of the city after dark.
🗺️
Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka grows the cinnamon, not the substitute. Cinnamomum verum is native to the island and its thin, brittle, many-layered quills are a different spice from the thick single-layer cassia sold under the same name elsewhere. Peeling it is a skilled trade, done by hand with a specialised knife.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Sri Lanka
Parippu & Pol SambolCreamy coconut-milk red lentils with a fiery fresh coconut-chili relish, the twin pillars of a Lankan rice table.
Fish Ambul Thiyal (Sour Fish Curry)Sri Lanka’s dry sour fish curry: firm fish coated in a jet-black paste of goraka and black pepper and cooked down until every piece wears a tangy, peppery crust.
Hoppers (Appa)Bowl-shaped fermented rice-and-coconut pancakes, lacy at the edges and soft in the middle.
Browse all Sri Lanka recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kottu Roti?
Chopped flatbread stir-fried with curry, vegetables, and egg on a clanging griddle, Colombo’s midnight anthem.
Where does Kottu Roti come from?
Kottu Roti is a Sri Lankan dish from Western Province (Colombo), Sri Lanka.
Can Kottu Roti be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kottu Roti recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kottu Roti safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kottu Roti take to make?
About 35 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 3.
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