Kati Roll from the Tomb Raider Cookbook

Kati Rolls are a street food snack from Kolkata, India, which is a paratha or roti flatbread wrapped around a filling, which can either be meat or a vegetarian alternate. In the Bengali language, "kati" means "stick". The Tomb Raider Cookbook's recipe for Kati Rolls uses paneer, a pressed Indian cheese that can be grilled or fried and always holds its shape without melting.

I've made Nadiya Hussain's recipe for Kati Rolls in the past, although hers used tortillas instead of the more traditional roti. While those would be more accessible to the Western cook, they aren't authentic, and the cookbook's recipe includes instructions on how to make roti yourself. There are multiple components to the Kati Roll recipe: the roti dough, a marinade for the paneer, a spicy cilantro/coriander chutney, and vegetables to include in the filling.

As discussed in the Chicken Tikka Masala post, the original Tomb Raider and its remake Anniversary (and perhaps its second remake, Legacy of Atlantis will) begin with Lara Croft relaxing in Kolkata's Imperial Hotel when her associate Larson Conway comes to her with an offer. She also visits India in Tomb Raider III to search for the Infada Stone, and in 2027's Tomb Raider Catalyst, she'll return to northern India for her next adventure.

This was quite the production since I'm not experienced with making Kati Rolls. First, I took care of the paneer's marinade. I accidentally added two teaspoons of salt and had to remove some, and I used sweet paprika and cayenne pepper instead of Kashmiri chili powder, which was a substitute provided by the cookbook. If I'd had Kashmiri chili powder, I would have used it.

You're meant to use ghee, clarified butter, but since I didn't have any I simply used regular butter, and I used a red bell pepper/capsicum instead of green as it called for. I hate green peppers.

This recipe calls for a green chili in the cilantro chutney, and the only one I had was a Thai one. It made the chutney especially spicy, not least because I didn’t de-seed it. Normally I would, but I didn't think to. Now, I'm used to the saucy kind of chutney that's almost like jam, and this is more of a gremolata type. I added more water thinking it was meant to be saucy until I realized this, then used paper towel to absorb some excess water. The rest would become a part of it.

I made the rookie mistake of stacking my individual rotis atop each other on a plate as I was preparing to fry each one before enclosing the filling in them. The first three rotis I made, which were also the last three on the plate, stuck together. If I do this again, I'll be sure to keep them separate, because they fused to each other once they absorbed their flour and I couldn’t pull them apart without ripping them. Re-forming them was not possible either.

I made five Kati Rolls when you’re supposed to have eight according to the recipe, partly because the rotis stuck together. In spite of my flawed execution, they were quite tasty, flavorful and spicy in a good way. Per instruction, I wrapped their bases in parchment paper (you can also use aluminum foil) to keep them together. My burrito/wrap wrapping skills need work.

Since I’d whisked an egg and still had melted butter and didn’t want to discard them, I made a chocolate chip cookie in a mug (or bowl in my case) for a dessert/cook's treat. Waste not, want not, right?

If you want to make this recipe for Kati Rolls yourself, you can find it in Tomb Raider: The Official Cookbook and Travel Guide.