Kottu

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A Sri Lankan street food made of chopped flatbread stir-fried on an iron griddle with vegetables, egg, and often meat or seafood
2. A popular Sri Lankan dish in which shredded roti is tossed with spices, vegetables, and usually egg or chicken on a hot griddle
3. Chopped godamba roti fried together with onions, spices, and vegetables, commonly with egg or meat, served as a Sri Lankan street meal

Etymology: Kottu is a Sri Lankan dish of chopped flatbread (roti) stir-fried on a griddle with vegetables, egg, meat or seafood, and spices, all cut and tossed with metal spatulas until the pieces rattle. The name comes from the Tamil word "kottu", meaning "to chop" or "to pound", and the dish takes its name from the chopping sound and motion of the cooks' blades. The word passed into English through the Sri Lankan dish's spread beyond the island, and it kept its original sense of the action that defines the food. The rhythmic clatter of the cooking is the feature that gives the name its sense, so the verb and the dish share one root.