- Bringing South Asian flavours to a truly Sri Lankan dish
If you live in Sri Lanka and don’t love kottu, are you even Sri Lankan? A dish so good, it ought to be named as the national dish as it’s unique to our country. Whoever came up with the concept of cutting up roti into bite-sized pieces and adding gravy, spices, and meat to it is a genius.
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Biriyani kottu[/caption]
Ko Roti, a cloud kitchen that offers a wide range of kottus, took the humble roti-curry combo and elevated it into something of a higher class. They incorporated flavours and famed dishes from around the world, and served them in the form of a fusion kottu. Combining the best of both worlds – or in this case, countries – somehow works harmoniously and you’re left with a delicious explosion of flavours on your tongue.
Since Ko Roti only has a delivery option, they’re the perfect choice for when one wants some warm, comfort food to indulge in while you’re relaxing at home. Especially these days, when leaving the house exposes you to a risk of catching Covid-19, Ko Roti brings flavours from around the world right to your doorstep.
We tried out three varieties of kottu from their extensive menu, and let me tell you, it was a hard choice to pick since everything was a dish we had never even dreamt of before, but we finally settled on the nasi goreng kotu, biriyani kottu, and the Thai chilli kottu.
Before we dive into the review, we must highlight how hot the food was when it came to us; the restaurant isn’t that close to our location but they had packaged the food in such a way that it stayed warm for hours afterwards. Obviously, hot food means there’s a mouthwatering aroma wafting everywhere, tantalising you to dig in, so that’s what we did!
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Nasi goreng kottu[/caption]
All three kottus came with a different gravy in a cup, that is supposed to add the taste you’re seeking to the roti, accompanied by meat of your choice.
We started off with the biriyani kottu that came with a boiled egg, staying true to a classic biriyani, as well as large chunks of pork, which we picked as a meat. Now, having lived in Sri Lanka for so long, we’ve tried the regular biriyani, string hopper biriyani, and even pasta biriyani, but never before have we tasted a biriyani kottu, and at first bite, we were shocked at how closely it resembled the typical dish in terms of flavour. Each rotti piece tasted just like the spices one would use in a biriyani and the combination of the boiled egg cinched the deal for us. An absolute hit; and if you haven’t had pork with your biriyani before, we highly recommend you do – be warned, it’s a bit oily – but an elite combination and a must try.
Next, we opened up the nasi goreng kottu. This too, stayed as close to the original as possible and came with a fried egg and we picked beef as our choice of meat. The portion of meat was actually quite generous; although we wish it was cut up a bit smaller and spread a little more evenly. The taste of a nasi did not shine through, even after pouring the whole of the gravy into it; there was a bit of the usual Asian soy sauce flavours that would usually come through strongly in this dish, but we suppose the roti had absorbed most of the flavours since the spices that are used in a nasi are not as strong as one that would go into a biryani. Nevertheless, it was still tasty and after the gravy; almost had a cheesy undertone to it. Another thing we noted was that all the kottus were more wet than the usually dry roti you’d get at a roadside shop – a welcome change.
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Thai chili kottu[/caption]
Lastly, we had Thai chili kottu with seafood. Noteworthy fact was how fresh and huge the prawns were – although we would’ve liked them to be peeled but we suppose there is a flavour that comes from the shells as well. The dish also came with slightly larger than bite sized pieces of cuttlefish. We had a few spoonfuls of the kottu without the gravy and thought “Oh, it’s actually not that spicy” but upon adding the sauce, that’s where the heat comes in – and it doesn’t show it’s colours immediately, a few bites in, there’s a nice aftertaste of heat on your tongue. It’s perfect for Sri Lankan spice craving taste buds. We also liked how creamy the gravy was and the texture it added to the kottu. Tastewise too, it was pretty darn good and an overall well balanced dish. The seafood was actually a very good accompaniment for this dish.
Ko Roti is available for delivery via Uber Eats. You can also call their hotline and place an order.
Instagram: @ko_roti
Facebook: Ko’ Roti
Contact: 0112508555
