Chicken Kathi Rolls (Chicken Frankies)

Kathi Kebabs or Kathi rolls is another Street Food item from India that is just loved by one and all. There is now a Kathi Roll stand at almost every corner of Delhi. It is also known as Frankie in a lot of different regions – similar with small variations but still finger-liking good! It can be stuffed or rolled with a lot of different meats or vegetables – mutton, beef, chicken, potatoes, mushrooms, paneer or simply just eggs and cheese. Enjoy this wonderful, aromatic, finger-licking, scrumptious, yummy, mouth-watering…(and yes, we can even write a poem on it) Kathi Rolls aka Frankies and Kathi Kebabs!
Please don’t be scared at the length of the recipe, we have tried to cover every little detail – go for it and enjoy 🙂

Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 45 min
Makes: 8 Rolls

Ingredients:

For the Filling:
Chicken – 1.5 lb (approx 700gms), boneless, skinless thighs
Oil – 1 tbsp
Onions – 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Ginger – 1 tsp
Garlic – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Tomatoes – 1/2 cup
Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala – 1/2 tsp
Red Chili Powder – 1/2 tsp or to taste
Cumin Powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1/2 tsp
Chaat Masala – 1 tsp

Method for the Filling:
1. Cut boneless, skinless thighs to smaller bite size pieces, wash and drain excess water.
2. In a pan, heat Oil on medium heat.
3. Add in the Onions and right after that the Ginger and the Garlic.
4. Sprinkle a little Salt to help the Onions cook a little faster.
5. Cook for 2-3 minutes and add in the Tomatoes and cook till the mixture comes together to form a lump and releases a little Oil.
6. Add in the Spices: Turmeric Powder, Garam Masala, Red Chili Powder, Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder and Chaat Masala.
7. Mix quickly to avoid the Spices from burning.
8. Right after that add in the Chicken and mix to coat the Chicken with the masala.
9. Once the Chicken starts changing color, cover and allow the Chicken to cook.
10. Keep stirring frequently to prevent the Chicken from burning.
11. Once done, and the Chicken cuts easily, take the lid off the pan and cook and dry any excess liquid in the Chicken.
12. Once done, take the pan off the flame and keep aside till ready to use. check Salt and spices and adjust as needed.

For the Dough:
Chapati Atta – 1 cup
All Purpose Flour (Maida) – 1/2 cup
Salt – 3/4 tsp
Oil – 1 tbsp
Egg – 1
Warm Water – 7 or 8 tbsp (depends on the size of the Egg)
Oil for drizzling
Eggs – approx 4 eggs, well beaten (optional)

Method for Rotis:
1. Combine the 2 Flours – Atta and Maida and add Salt and mix.
2. Add in the 1 tbsp of Oil and rub it into the flours.
3. Break 1 egg and combine the same way as the Oil.
4. Add in little Water at a time to form a dough. Be careful not to use too much. The dough should be just a little softer than Chapati dough.
5. Knead for a couple of minutes.
6. Drizzle a little Oil over the dough, coat it with the Oil and cover and allow it to rest for 15 min.
7. After 15 min. remove the cover and knead for a minute.
8. Heat a Tawa for the Rotis.
9. Divide the Dough into approx 8 equal balls.
10. Like for Chapatis, take one ball and flatten between the palms.
11. Dust in some All Purpose Flour and roll to form Rotis.
12. The Rotis need to be thinner and bigger than Chapatis – keep dusting to help with rolling.
13. Place on the hot Tawa and allow it to cook till you see the dough color change and bubbles start to appear.
14. Flip the Roti and pour about 1/2 a beaten Egg on the Roti.
15. Smear the Egg and then flip the Roti once again very carefully.
16. Allow the Egg to cook for a couple of minutes.
17. Drizzle some Oil on the outside of the Roti on the Tawa to the Oil rolls into the center to help cook the Egg.
18. With a spatula, loosen the Egg from the Tawa.
19. Smear a little Oil on the top side of the Roti and flip once again.
20. Allow the bottom side to cook for just a minute and take the Roti off the Tawa and place it on a plate.

For Garnish:
Onions – to taste, fine sliced
Green Chilies – to taste, fine chopped
Cilantro – lots, fine chopped
Lemon or Lime Juice – to taste
Chutney (mint or cilantro) – to taste

Assembly of the Rolls:
1. Heat the Chicken if it has cooled down and take off the pan off the heat.
2. Add in the fine sliced Onions, finely chopped Green Chillies, Cilantro, Squeeze of Lime and mix well.
3. Divide the Chicken into as many as the number of Rotis to be made.
4. Place some Chicken on the Roti to the side close to you for easy rolling.
5. Put some Chutney of your choice over the Chicken.
6. Roll the Roti with the chicken away from you to form a tight roll.
7. Wrap with foil to keep warm or put in a toothpick to keep it from unwrapping.
8. Serve hot.

Tips:
1. Use tortillas or regular left-over Chapatis for a quick bite.
2. Use Chutney of your liking.
3. Add in some Pickled Onions for an extra crunch.
4. Roll some shredded cheese for kids (or any cheese lovers).
5. Make it vegetarian – roll up some Masala Musroom, Paneer Bhurji or any other left over dry vegetables.
6. Make it special- substitute the Chicken with Mushrooms in the same recipe.

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0 thoughts on “Chicken Kathi Rolls (Chicken Frankies)

  1. Thank you for your excellent recipe, the video was very helpful too. My husband’s family is Anglo-Indian and family gatherings with Grandma ALWAYS featured kathi kebabs. Since her passing 7 years ago my husband has pined for the taste and texture which I’ve never been able to reproduce, and this recipe did it! It was so easy too. Also our children loved it. We also used parathas bought from the asian grocer. Thanks girls I will definitely try more of your recipes.

  2. Hi Hetal and Anuja,

    This was the first recipe of your list which I tried.. Amazing… I came out very well.. Later I started to see and prepare most of your recipes which made me feel happy and also the final outcome was awesome… My husband really really loved the dishes I prepared… Thanks to u both.. I indeed tried many websites but none was satisfactory for me.

    Kudos for the great work.. A small request.. Please do share the recipe for chicken dum biryani…

  3. Hi Hetal and Anuja,

    I am looking your tawa ..always it is new.. Are you using new Tawa everytime or you are cleaning it neatly? I also used a tawa(used in another recipe) similar like you but now it not looking new:( any suggestions for cleaning..

    Thanks..

    1. Hi Anu,

      We have several tawas that we rotate so they don’t all get messed up badly. There is no magic way of cleaning a tawa. You just have to make sure that any burnt oil is rubbed off before you use it the next time. Anything remaining will just get burnt more and over time, become impossible to remove.

  4. u both r extremely…my mouth is watering to c this video…thanks to u guys…could u give me tips on were to buy chicken….

  5. Hi Hetal & Anuja,

    Tried this dish and as usual with your recipes it was a blockbuster :D!!!! Our family enjoyed it completely. Thank you sooo much :).

    I am going to make this dish for a potluck(to impress everyone ;)). As you mentioned its tasty when the rolls are warm. How can I re-heat them once prepared?

    1. Hi Paddu,

      You can pre-make all of the rotis, stack them and wrap them in aluminum foil. Heat them in the oven at 350F until they heat all the way through.

  6. HI MY NAME IS ILIANA IM FROM MEXICO BUT MY BOYFRIEND IS FROM INDIA AND IM SO GREATEFUL WITH YOU Hetal AND Anuja, BECAUSE I ALWAYS TRY TO COOK DIFERENTS KIND OF FOOD MEXICAN AND ITALIAN AND ANY RECIPE THAT I FOUNDING IN THE INTERNET, AND MY BOYFREND WAS NO HAPPY, NOW IS ALL DIFFERENT, I FOUND YOUR CHANEL AND I FOLLOW ALL YOUR RECIPICE AND I M SO HAPPY BECAUSE WHEN HE CAME FROM WORK ALWAYS SMILE AND ALL FOR BOTH THANK YOU SO MUCH = )

  7. Namaste Hetal, Namaste Anuja,

    I love chicken rolls & my mother always scolds me when I buy them from outside, her concern is hygiene basically. So, I tried them last night. The whole family loved it. Thank you so much for the video. & a thunderous applause for the detailed recipe.

  8. This recipe is great. I tried it out yesterday and everyone in the family loved it. I also paced it for my son’s lunch today. Thank you so much.

  9. Hi Hetal/Anuja,

    Thank u so much for posting such wonderful recipies…..we all just loved it and the credit goes to u both…:)
    Love u both 🙂

  10. I have made these a few times now and thought I should let you know that this is a great recipe. I am yet to try a veg version of the kathi rolls but will try it soon.

  11. Wow – you ladies made this recipe easy to follow and very do-able, even for novice Indian cookers! This turned out so well, my husband was very pleasantly surprised! Of course, I doubled the spice to meet our tasting desires, and it was delish! I look forward to incorporating this into our regular meals 🙂 Add a nice dish of lentils and fresh salad, yum!!! Thank you so much for helping me learn to cook very good Indian food!

  12. Hi-this is an amazing, easy, & tasty recipe. I have 3 kids: ages 14, 11, & 4 and this is definitely one that the whole family loves!!! Instead of the roti, I just use the ‘Kawan’ parathas (i know, not as healthy), and this dish is ready in 30 mins! THANKS. I am trying more and more of your recipes, and love them!

  13. Hi Hetal & Anuja
    First of all I would like to thank you for all the wonderful recipes that you show on your website.
    I would like to if I can prepare the dough without the egg. It would be helpful if you can name a substitute that can make the dough softer like the one using egg. If I use the egg can make the previous night and keep it in the refrigerator.

    Pls. reply.

    Thanks a lot.

    1. Hi Meena,

      We have a recipe for Vegetarian Frankies that has the dough recipe without eggs. It is very good and makes very soft rotis. If you decide to use the egg, you can definitely keep it overnight in the refrigerator. We do not recommend keeping it more than a day or two max.

  14. Hello Anuja and Hetal,
    Thanks for the receipe and video. I remember dining at Nizam´s in Delhi a long time ago and always wanted to know how to make these Kathi Rolls.
    I don´t think I will have the opportunity to visit Delhi again,but I am going to try making this delicious dish and take a trip down memory lane.
    Could you tell me how to buy a stand to roll the bread out I have tried doing it on the kitchen table but it got quite messy.
    Thanks again for adding a pinch of spice to our lives,

    Lionel M. Harrold
    Denmark

    1. Hi Lionel,

      That’s great that you were able to have authentic Nizam’s Kathi Rolls! The larger Indian grocery stores here in the US carry the rolling stand and pin but we are not about Denmark. If it helps, the stand is called “chakla” and the pin is called “belan”.

  15. Hello! I am sorry but will you please answer my question: How to make coriander or mint chutney?

    PLEASE i dont know how to!

  16. I tried it was great tasty and delicious and a perfect measurment we all love it Thank you so much. You two are great. 🙂

  17. Hi girls,

    I’ve tried it yesterday and that was so yummy that my son and husband loved them and asked me to do it again :-D. Thanks again 4 all these superbe recettes ;-). BYE

    RUQ 🙂

  18. hi hetal and anuja….
    luv ur recipes….
    could u please tell me about ur tava as well….is it the non-stick one or the regular iron tava??? i just find it so difficult to keep my tava(anodised one) so clean…and if you could please suggest which one is the best…
    thnx in advance…
    regards
    harjeet

  19. I full agree with you: kathi rolls are the amongst the hot favourite street foods of India, and unlike other unhealthy foods, kathi rolls or frankies are stuffed full of goodness and health. Your recipe is great, and would go well with spicy chutneys. You could also try out some healthy flavoursome soup recipes; check out our blog at http://knorratseven.blogspot.com/ for some expert tips and suggestions on healthy eating habits.

  20. hi Hetal n Anuja!!!!!

    I am new to your website…I found it very interesting

    Ur recipes are simple n easy to understand…
    I tried many of ur recipes …they came out well…
    Thanks to u both

  21. Can I wrap part of the dough in a plastic wrap and refrigerate and use it the next day?Wasnt sure because of the egg in the dough..

  22. Hi, I tried this recipe yesterday, n it came out very delicious…my husband loved it.
    Thank you for the wonderful recipe.

  23. The rolls came out great. The dough recipe is really good. The chapatis came out soft yet crispy. I am not too fond of eggs so going forward, I’ll be making my chapatis without the egg layer. This one is definitely a keeper 🙂

  24. Hi Hetal and Anuja,

    Great recipe!! Thanks a ton.

    I have a quick question for you. Being a student I tend to cook food and keep it in refrigerator for a couple of days. So if I were to add eggs to make the chapati dough do you think it would be wise to store it in fridge and use it as I need it?

    Thanks,
    Ganesh

  25. Hey!!

    Just to point out, I found a hilarious thing in your ingredients, the typing error of chicken thighs shows things, anyway good going girls, keep it up

      1. I caught it yesterday too along with “finger-liking” instead of “licking” in the intro paragraph 😛 I was thinking of PMing you gals but forgot my password:( Now that we are it, let’s fix the intro too 🙂

        I am making kathi rolls for dinner tonight. Using paneer tikka in the masala base you gave us. I added some finally chopped bell-pepper and mushrooms to the masala. All I need to do now is bake the paneer tikkas, coat in the masala and start out on the rolls:)

  26. Hi Hetal & Anuja, yet another awesome recipe!!!! Can’t wait to try it tomorrow! BTW i’ve always been wanting to ask you ladies, your green nonstick kadai looks wonderful, haven’t seen the inside like that very new to me, can u pl. share where u bought it from?

    1. Hi Sony,
      Our green pan and our orange spatula are bigger stars on our show that us, we are starting to get jealous! Just kidding 😉
      The green pan was bought from TJ Maxx and they had a ton of them. We bought it because it is a fresh color and the inside is grey (as opposed to black) so the food is more visible on camera.
      Hope that helps and you can find it 🙂

      1. LOL…..don’t worry ultimately you ladies are the rock stars!!!! Thanx for sharing i’m on my way to TJ Maxx to buy one, if they have any left!
        Just an experience i wanted to share…..you ladies have such good recipes which are not just for display they turn out delicious when we audience prep it…i was watching this Arti’s party on FoodTV the other day and i personally didn’t like any of what she was cooking, didn’t feel anything Indian u know what i mean??? I sooo wished that u ladies won that contest and were on food network so that we would have enjoyed your recipes on TV too!!!!Anyway goodluck u guys hopefully we will see you soon on either of the national cooking channels!!!

        1. The problem with Aarti is, she is catering to different palettes. She cannot make a Biryani where people would not know to cook Basmati rice. IT gets kind of tricky in situations like that.

          1. Hi Guys,
            We both like Arti, we think she is cute. Like you mentioned, her hands are tied as far as the recipes go and is doing the best she can with such a varied audience.
            We are proud of her, it’s got to be a tough job.

  27. Three cheers to SMTC!!!!!!!!! as u guys are creating great good cooks all around the world, all ur recipes come out just great( no words left to praise)
    Hip Hip hooray………………

  28. Hey Guys
    As always…I love this reciepe…I used tomato concentrate paste and passata…it reduced my time of cooking..though I would share it with you guys…
    This recipe was a hit with my neighbours as well
    Many Thanks
    Samatha

  29. This is good. I never used to use egg to the chapatis – in the dough or while baking on tawa…..this is a great idea and realised the chapatis tasted better and softer. Thanks so much – one more thing learnt from you girls….your masala mix for the chicken is simple but really comes out tasty….Gr8 job. God bless u betiyas of my kitchen 🙂

    1. Hi Arpana,
      We are sure you will enjoy it 🙂
      Be sure to cook till there is no moisture in the filling because Mushrooms tend to leave a loot of water, unless you use Portabella Mushrooms 🙂

  30. Hi,

    Hetal and Anuja,

    I learned a lot of cooking watching you. So just wanted to share one of my recipe (Gobhi ke danthal) or Caulifalower Stamp vegitable.

    Ingredients:
    1 Peeled Cauliflower stamps (one inch length)
    2 one large onion slices
    3 two tomatoes small pieces
    4 ginger paste 1 tsp
    5 garlic paste 1 tsp
    6 oil 2 tsp
    7 salt to taste
    8

  31. hi hetal and Anuja

    i love all your recipies and they turn out great. I have an eye on your red spatula which you use for cooking. could you please tell me from which store did you buy it. please let me know i am badly looking for it. take care

    1. Hi Shehad,
      We love it too and unfortunately, we picked it up years ago at a dollar store and have not been able to find it anywhere since then 🙁 and trust us, we have not stopped looking….

  32. Hi Hetal and Anuja! Both veg and non veg frankies are looking great.. Can u pls send me the link for the chutney that u used.. i searched in ur site but couldnt find it…

  33. Hey I’m first!!I’m a veg but i like to watch even non veg recipes as well!I skip all the non veg ingridients and substitute it wit something veg!Though you have shown a veg version of this recipe!but their are many other ingridients added in it!so I’l mix them with potatoes!

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