chicken roll recipe | kolkata street food bengali chicken roll recipe

Chicken roll recipe – learn how to make Kolkata street food Bengali chicken roll recipe with step-by-step pictures. Chicken roll is basically chicken-wrapped paratha with onion salad. Basically cooked boneless chicken pieces (boneless kabab pieces) are wrapped in a fried paratha with lime juice and onion slices. It originally comes from Kolkata and is similar to kathi roll, so people call it Kolkata Kati roll too. It was first introduced in Kolkata by the famous Mughlai food joint Nizam’s.

Chicken roll is a famous evening snack among Bengalis and you may easily get it in Kolkata from any street-side fast food corner. People outside West Bengal believe Kolkata’s chicken roll is a kathi kabab roll. But as Kolkata is my hometown I can assure you, Bengali chicken roll is not always a kathi roll.

Kathi means skewers, where the marinated meat has to be put on skewers and then put into the charcoal oven to cook. And those cooked meat used to be put in a fried Indian paratha to roll it up, this is the way how to make chicken Kathi roll (chicken kathi kabab roll) recipe.

Even it is not always a chicken tikka roll where boneless chicken tikka is first made in charcoal or grilled oven and later wrapped in parathas. In Kolkata, most of the street roll vendors did not have a charcoal oven or grilled oven to make Kati kabab or chicken tikka. Rather they basically cook marinated (in different spices) chicken boneless pieces in a pan and put it in the center of a deep-fried layered paratha with sliced onion, a nice sprinkle of black salt, and a perfect squeeze of lemon. That Chicken stuffing is quite similar in taste to our Bengali chicken kosha (curry).

Being a non-vegetarian I’m a huge fan of Kolkata rolls whether with egg, chicken, or mutton. In our college days, we often used to have the rolls from the street roll vendors and the taste was amazing. Those days the famous street food joints for rolls were Bedwin and Bawarchi in South Calcutta. They did not add tomato ketchup or any sauce to the roll’s stuffing, as street vendors did. Only use lemon juice in stuffing and add green chilies as per people’s request.

Today, I’m going to share Bedwin or Bawarchi-style chicken roll recipes. This is a simple chicken roll recipe where no egg is used. However, for making an egg chicken roll, you can prepare the paratha before wrapping it with chicken. Even you can use double rather than single eggs as per your choice. Here I have tried to reach you with that awesome taste that I had in my early 20s in Kolkata. Here, I’ll apply all the tricks which will make it scrumptious and easy to make at home. Stay with me till the end and hope, you will enjoy the recipe.

You may try my one more evening snack recipes,

Chicken Roll recipe | Kolkata Street Food Bengali Chicken Roll recipe

Ingredients of chicken roll

250 gms boneless Chicken
3/4 cup sliced onion
1 1/4 tsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp finely chopped green chilies or green chili paste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 lemon (one for making chicken and the other one is for squeezing in the roll)
1tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp roasted masala powder
1 1/2 tsp black salt
salt (as required)
water (as required)
refined oil (for frying the parathas)

Roasted spices

whole cumin seeds
coriander seeds
red chilies

Take a half teaspoon of whole cumin and coriander seeds with 1-2 red chilies. Dry roast the spices and then grind it to make a smooth powdered form.

For garam masala powder

green cardamom
cloves
cinnamon
whole peppercorn

Grind it to make smooth garam masala powder and use 1 tsp garam masala for this recipe.

Making the dough for paratha

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 1/2 tbsp refined oil
luck warm water(as required)

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Served in: 55 mins

cuisine: Bengali

Course: Evening snacks / street food

Served for: 5 people

Author: Moumita Paul

How to make Kolkata street food Bengali chicken roll recipe

Instructions with step by step pictures

Preparation of chicken

Wash the chicken with luck warm water to remove all the dirt came with it. squeeze the excess water from the chicken and keep it on the chopping board.

Cut the boneless chicken into pieces as shown in the pictures.

Marinate the chicken pieces with 1/2 tsp salt and juice of a half lemon for about 2 hours.
After the chicken gets marinated, put a pan on medium heat, add 2 tbsp oil to it, add 1/2 cup sliced onion, fry it until gets nice golden brown color.

Now add ginger-garlic paste to it, add green chili paste or finely chopped green chilies, then add the marinated chicken to it and mix it well. sauté the chicken for 30 secs.

Next, add turmeric powder and red chili powder to it. mix the spices nicely with the chicken and cover the pan with a lid.
Stir the chicken frequently as we didn’t add water till now to it.
After a few mins when masala will start to release oil from its side and all the raw smells of chicken and spices go off then add 1/4 cup of water to it. Cover it cook for some time on a low heat.

When the water almost gets soaked by the chicken add roasted powdered masalas and garam masalas to it. Stir it well.

Add salt(as required) and juice of half lemon, stir it well and turn off the heat. keep the cooked chicken in the bowl aside.

Making Kolkata style chicken roll

First, sieve the all-purpose flour and keep it in a mixing bowl.

Then add salt, sugar(sugar has an important role to make it crisp) and mix it well. Add oil in it and mix it well with your fingertips until the mixture becomes crumbly.
Now add hot(mild) water as required and start kneading to make a soft and smooth dough. Cover the dough and keep it aside to rest for the 45mins-1 hour.

When the dough will be ready, divide it into 5 equal portions.
Take 3tbsp all-purpose flour in a small bowl and add 2 tbsp oil to it mix it nicely to make a smooth creamy mix.
Now dust some flour on your kitchen board/table, make each portion like a rope and then roll it with a rolling pin as shown in the pic.

Then add 1 tbsp flour-oil mix on it and spread it evenly all over the upper surface with the brush.

Now start to roll it like rolling a paper, as shown in the pic.

And then put your palm on the top of this rolled doughs, and gently press it to make the dough flat. Keep it aside.
Once all the doughs are ready, take your rolling pin and all-purpose flour to roll the dough on the rolling board or kitchen table. now convert the dough into a flat little thick and layered Indian bread or paratha. remove all the excess flour from the layered paratha.

Place a tawa/skillet on a slow heat and make it slightly hot from the top. Now place the paratha on the tawa after 30 secs turn it over and keep it again for 30 secs. And keep it in a plate aside.
When all the parathas will be done in this way, add the generous amount of refined oil( about 2 tbsp for each paratha) to the tawa for frying the parathas. And turn it into a nice golden colored crisp layered parathas.

Once all the parathas are completely done, arrange the chicken pieces on the parathas with sliced onion, chopped green chilies (as per choice), a nice sprinkle of black salt and a perfect squeeze of lemon juice.
Now, roll it up with a portion of parchment paper or butter paper to prevent the stuffings fall off from the bottom.
Your chicken roll is ready, without wasting a moment take a bite and enjoy the taste.

Tips

Here I have used sugar in the dough to make the bread or paratha crispy.
I first cooked the parathas on the tawa/skillet without oil and later use the oil to fry it. Just because more oil is required at the time of frying the layered paratha. Or else the crisp layer won’t be visible. So the first 30-30 secs cooking parathas without oil is needed as it will help us to use less oil while frying it later.
Don’t forget to remove the excess flour from the parathas before putting it on the tawa/skillet. Or else paratha will quickly get dry and get a brown color from its surface.

chicken roll recipe | How to make Kolkata street food Bengali chicken roll

Mochar chop or banana blossom cutlet

Vegetable chop

Prawn cutlet recipe