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Parotta or porotta (Malayalam: പൊറോട്ട, Tamil: பரோட்டா) is a layered flatbread made from refined flour, eggs and oil. It is commonly seen in South India, especially in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and also in former Ceylon or Sri Lanka (as Ceylon Parotta). Variants of the bread spread by Indian Mamak stall and by indentured labourers from the British Raj are popular in , Southeast Asia and Caribbean countries like Malaysia, Pakistan Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Mauritius, Maldives, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago under the names roti canai, roti prata, Roti tissue, farata, oil roti or buss up shut.
Porottas are often available as street food and in restaurants, and are also served at weddings, religious festivals and feasts. It is prepared by kneading maida, 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, and then beaten to release the flakey layers It is often served with a meat curry, such as chicken, goat, beef, or lamb.
Muslim traders, and later migrant laborers from Southern India are said to have spread its popularity in South East Asia, giving rise to the Roti canai (so named allegedly after the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu), Roti Prata and other variants.
Indentured labourers from British India also introduced the bread to the Caribbean, where it is called the "buss-up-shut roti" referring to the way the bread is beaten after cooking to free up the layers until it looks like a 'bust-up shirt', as well as to Mauritius, Maldives and Guyana, where it was given the names farata and oil roti.
The Ceylon Parotta variant is said to have been introduced in Southern coastal Tamil Nadu by the Ceylonese or Sri Lanka migrant workers (potentially from the Sri Lankan Tamil-populated Jaffna region), who were employed at the Tuticorin port. Ceylon Parotta is a minced meat stuffed version of the Veechu Parotta, a square-shaped parotta from Tamil Nadu. Other variants popularized in Tamil Nadu are the smaller, circular Coin Parottas, and Kothu Parottas made of chopped up leftover Parottas mixed with spices, eggs and chillies.
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