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Parotta

Parotta or Porotta is a layered Indian flatbread made from Maida or Atta, alternatively known as flaky ribbon pancake. It is very common in the Indian states of South India and widely available in other and countries like Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka.

Porottas are often available as street food and in restaurants. In some places it is also served at weddings, religious festivals and feasts. It is prepared by kneading maida/wheat flour, egg (in some recipes), oil or ghee and water. The dough is beaten into thin layers and later forming a round spiralled into a ball using these thin layers. The ball is rolled flat and pan-fried. It is often served with a meat curry, such as chicken, goat, beef, or lamb.

History

Theories of Porotta Origin

Archaeologist and culinary anthropologist Kurush F Dalal says that the porotta is likely to have come with Arab traders from ancient West Asia. He explains: “Kerala has always had trade links with West Asia, right from the pre-Islamic period. So, this must have travelled with the sailors and traders and found a place in North Malabar’s culinary palate.” He points out that though porotta is made of refined flour, Kerala is not a wheat producing state and so its origins clearly lie beyond the seas. Moreover, versions of the porotta can be found all over Malayasia, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

Be that as it may. The Malabar porotta now has a special place in the flavour map in Kerala. Over the years, the porotta, made with maida, sugar, milk, oil and more oil, has gone through several makeovers.

Another unpopular version says originated in the Tamil-populated Jaffna area of Sri Lanka, and the migrant workers from there introduced it as "Veechu Porotta" or "Ceylon Porotta" in the coastal Tamil Nadu region of India. In Virudhunagar, traditionally, the parotta is deep-fried and is called Ennai (oil) parotta which is very different from either the veechu parotta or the Malabar parotta. This predates the veechu parotta and has been around for a long time.Parotta became popular all over Kerala during the early 1980s. But according to a study it is inaccurate as a video dating back to 1967 shows porotta in malabar on a personal footage .