Foods of South India: Malabar Porotta




Malabar porotta might be my new favorite food. I ordered it with dinner at a restaurant that specializes in food from the Kerala region of India. Sometimes also called parotta or barotta, it's a circular bread the size of a salad plate that’s as flaky as a croissant, but also has spiral layers like a cinnamon roll. I don’t know how someone from Kerala eats malabar parrota, but I pulled away long strips of it and folded them over as much fruit chutney as I could manage. After it's baked, golden flecks of crust become crisp on the top and bottom, while the center stays chewy.