Chicken Kati (Kathi) Rolls–the Recipe

It’s funny when I looked back at yesterday’s post, it seemed so long to me, but what I realized was that it took a long time to write it – nearly an hour.  It’s because I had to sift through 300+ photos and organize them for the post.  But the recipe for the kati rolls is worth the wait.

While this recipe may seem complicated, it’s anything but.  It can be made in stages so its ready when you want to eat it.

I like to think of roti bread as just a super thin pita bread.  Super simple to make, just takes a little bit of time to cook all of them.  You could also keep the dough in your fridge and just cook them up as you need them.  The dough will last in the fridge for a week.

Roti Bread:

• 2 cups flour (most recipes called for whole wheat, but I didn’t have any)
• 1/2  teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1.25 cups warm tap water

Mix the flour and the salt together.  Add in olive oil and water and mix until the dough is combined and not sticky.  Let sit for 10 minutes.

In a non-stick pan, put a bit of olive oil – cook each roti for about a minute each side – you can tell it’s time to flip when the bubbles start to form on the top.  Be careful not to cook too much because otherwise it gets stiff and almost cracker like.  You still want it to be pliable.  The above recipe gave me 12 six inch roti.

When looking up different recipes for Chicken Kati Rolls (or Kathi – not sure which is the correct spelling!) a lot of them called for a green chutney.  Having never eaten in an Indian restaurant, I’d never tried that before.  Holy balls is this a delicious condiment!

Green Chutney:

• 1 cup cilantro
• ½ a cup of mint
• ½ inch fresh ginger, peeled
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 small green chili (start with half to see how spicy, then add more to taste)
• Pinches of black pepper and salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Just put in a food processor and pulse away.   I ended up needing to add the olive oil in order to mince all the herbs.   Refrigerate – this will keep a couple weeks.

So I knew the chicken kati I had in NYC was chicken thighs.  I decided to use the marinade I use for my chicken tikka masala for the chicken thighs.

Marinade for Chicken:

• 1.25 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 6 oz. container of plain Chobani Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons of salt

Combine all the above ingredients and let marinate at least an hour, preferably longer.  I let mine marinate for two days.  Heat an indoor grill pan to medium high heat.  Sear the outside of the meat so it gets a nice crust.  Since I knew I would be reheating the chicken when I got to work, I only cooked it ¾ of the way through.

So luckily I tasted the green chutney before bringing it to work, because yowza – it got super spicy!  So I mixed the chutney with a tablespoon of fat free sour cream to tame the heat a bit.

Once at work I heated the chicken.  I just popped the roti in my office toaster oven for about 20 seconds, kind of to steam it up.  I shredded carrots and cucumber (why yes, I do have a hand shredder in my desk drawer!) and then started to build the kati.  I smeared the bottom of each roti with the green chutley/sour cream mixture.  Topped it with the chicken, shredded carrots and cucumbers.  Drizzled on a bit of sriracha and added some chopped cilantro as a garnish.

Holy balls was this flavorful.  The meat was super tender, and I LOVED the green chutney – it just punches you in the face with so much flavor.  Heather (from Kuwait – hi Heather!) said that the bread used in kati rolls is actually called Chapati bread – and the secret is using whole wheat flour.  I am going to try to make those this weekend using this recipe.

For breakfast I had 1/2 a NY bagel with an egg white spinach scramble and Cabot Cheese’s white oak cheddar cheese.  I love that cheese – totally made the breakfast sammie.

One of my co-workers brought me my favorite dressing – thanks Judy!

It’s been slow at work lately.  I found myself walking around the office taking pictures and trying different settings on my camera.  I’ve had my DSLR for nearly four years, and still barely know how to use it.  One of these days I’ll have to take a DSLR photography class, it’s much easier to watch someone explain the camera to me vs. reading Nikon D3100 for Dummies.  (Which I have by the way and could barely understand the first chapter).

I ended up bringing more lasagna soup, but mixed in chopped cooked spaghetti – I didn’t really care for it with the spaghetti noodles, but they were leftover so I thought what the hell.

Tony called me in the afternoon yesterday and asked if I was expecting a package.  I suddenly remembered that Cabot Cheese was sending me some loot!

More cheese!!  I haven’t had the Alpine Cheddar before, but love the white oak and farmhouse reserve.  But really, other than limburger cheese, I don’t think I’ve met a cheese I didn’t like.  On the list of things to make?  On Cabot Cheese Coop’s website they have a recipe for a sweet potato chipotle cheddar cheese soup – how good does that sound?!  I think Tony is about to throw up at the mere thought of this soup – that’s okay – more for me!

We sat outside for a while when I got home from work.  Tony had just finished mowing the lawn, and then our neighbor came over to chat.  It was nearly 6:45 by the time we came in, and I ended up reheating some chili for dinner – no picture though – it was so dark by the time we ate, I figured it’s okay – you guys know what chili looks like – ha!

Question of the Day:  Have you ever tried Indian food?  Have you ever had a chicken kati roll and am I even close?  I would love to someday go to a really good Indian restaurant in Chicago to experience more of the flavors.  I love spicy, flavorful food and I think Indian food would be delicious.

Happy Friday!  Make it a great day!