Meat or veg: kathi roll is delicious
Pick a country and you’ll find some sort of rolled or wrapped foodstuff that’s a grab-and-go street snack.
Mexico has burritos; the Middle East shawarma. Greeks grab a gyro; Turks demand durum; Yemenis a pita of falafel and hummus.
In Trinidad you’ll discover dhalpuri roti, while Italians pick piadina, a stuffed, fried flatbread with origins in Emilia-Romagna.
I could name more, but for now I’ll stop at kathi (or kati) rolls from Kolkata, India.
Pronounced “caw-tee,” some sources peg the wrapped street food to have started, possibly, in the 1930s.
Whenever they came about, kathi rolls are relatively new to the area, though versions have appeared at Indian restaurants as a variety of wrap or roll.
It’s likely the name kathi derives from the skewers used to cook kebabs, which means “stick” in Bengali.
The base of the kathi is paratha, an unleavened, wheat-flour flatbread of the Indian subcontinent. Thicker than chapati or roti, the paratha may be seasoned with ghee, the clarified butter.
For more on kathi rolls, please visit Waterloo Chronicle.
