What is “parotta” in Tamil cuisine?

புரோட்டா (parotta) is a layered, flaky South Indian flatbread, the staple of Tamil Nadu and Kerala street-food culture. It’s made from refined wheat flour (maida), kneaded soft, slapped flat, then coiled into a spiral and pressed before frying on a wide griddle. The result is many thin layers that pull apart in your hand. North India’s paratha, by contrast, is denser, made with whole-wheat flour, and stuffed or plain. Tamil parotta is most often eaten with salna (a thin meat curry) or kurma.

This clip is a tiny domestic exchange: someone is asked to go fetch the parotta from a vendor down the street. The bread is so embedded in Tamil daily life that the word needs no further explanation.