My family and I have been going to Bindaas restaurant in DC for years and we always order their Kathi
rolls. Now I have found a recipe for this in the cookbook from the Rasika restaurant, the big brother to
Bindaas. It comes out great and gets rave reviews from all my family and friends. You’ll have to stock up on
several ingredients specific to Indian cooking,
but it is well worth it.
Don’t miss the chutney recipes including the outrageously good cranberry chutney that
goes well!
For the filling:
¼ cup oil
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
2 cups peeled and chopped fine red onion
¼ cup ginger-garlic paste, bottled, or make your own:
½ cup (2 ounces) chopped and peeled fresh ginger
1 ½ cups (½ pound) peeled garlic cloves
¾ cup water
Puree all until smooth. The raw garlic will smell too sharp
but mellows when added to recipes.
Store in the fridge and freezes well.
This will turn green in the refrigerator but is okay to eat.
2 cups tomatoes, either fresh or canned & drained from a 28 oz.
can and chopped fine
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon deggi mirch chili powder, I use MDH brand
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 pound boneless chicken, cut into stir-fry sized pieces or smaller
To finish the filling:
1 teaspoon Thai green chili, chopped fine with seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon chaat masala, made up of:
Amchur powder (powdered Mango), MDH brand
Black salt (actually is pink-ish colored)
Coriander
Cumin
Black pepper
Asafetida
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
The rolls:
5 or so large eggs, scrambled, or few enough for the number of rolls you are
making
1 ½ tablespoons cilantro, chopped, reduce if making less than 6 rolls
¼ teaspoon salt, ditto
Six 8 inch (“soft taco” size) tortillas
Oil for brushing and quick-frying
Method for the filling, can be made a day ahead:
With medium-high heat, bring the oil hot until nearly smoking so there is crackling as you add the cumin
seeds (now.)
Reduce heat a bit and add the ginger-garlic paste and stir until the whole kitchen smells like garlic in
about 3 min.
Add the onions and cook them for about 5 minutes until softened but not browned.
Add the tomatoes and the turmeric and bring heat to a very hot temperature. Cook away the moisture
from the tomatoes so that they are really mushy.
Reduce heat back to medium and add the deggi mirch and coriander and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the chicken and cook until done. It won’t take long so be careful not to overcook!
To finish, add the green chili, salt, garam masala, chaat masala, lemon juice and cilantro.
Keep the filling warm until ready to assemble in the rolls.
You can prep the tortillas ahead of time and keep them in a 175 degree oven until ready to use.
For the rolls:
Prepare a mixture of the scrambled eggs, cilantro and salt.
Throw a tortilla onto a medium sized skillet pre-warmed over medium heat.
Brush it with some oil and flip it to brown, about 20 seconds or so.
Brush the other side, flip, and brown for another 20 seconds.
Working quickly, brush the now-browned side with 2 tablespoons of the egg mixture.
Flip, and cook the egg for 20-30 seconds.
Brush the top side and flip to cook egg on the last side – done!
To assemble each roll:
Spread ½ cup of the filling on the bottom ⅓ of the tortilla and just roll it up.
Serve warm with a chutney or two. Or three.
Adapted from the Rasika: Flavors of India cookbook from 2017.
Kathi Rolls with
Cranberry Chutney