Litti Chokha

Litti Chokha is a famous traditional dish, eaten mainly in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. Litti is made of wheat flour balls stuffed with sattu and spices. This stuffing is known as Pitthi. Sattu is a popular flour in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar which is made from roasted bengal gram / chana dal. Sattu is a nutritious flour which is cooling in nature, rich in fibre, low in calories and light to the digestive system. In olden times, litti was cooked in the hot sand or clay oven. Nowadays, it is either cooked in a tandoor or oven. Hot litti is dipped in ghee and served with chutney and mashed eggplant, potatoes or tomatoes.

For this month's South Vs North Challenge, started by Divya of You Too Can Cook, Nupur of UK Rasoi has challenged the South Team with this healthy and delicious Bihari Litti Chokha. Litti chokha is easy and simple to make if you have sattu. But it may not be easily available in the Indian grocery store, but still you can make this flour at home. Hop over to Nupur's space for the sattu recipe. Litti is usually eaten as a snack but can also be served for lunch and dinner. This dish can be consumed long after being prepared, thus apt to carry during long journeys. Dipping the hot litti in ghee enhances the taste, so do no skip the ghee! The true flavor of chokha comes from mustard oil and roasted garlic, so do not omit them too.

LITTI CHOKHA RECIPE Ingredients:For the litti:2 cup wheat flour
½ tsp ajwain / carom seeds / omam
2 tbsp ghee
½ tsp baking soda
Salt to taste
¾ to 1 cup warm water

For the stuffing:½ cup sattu / roasted chickpea flour
½ inch ginger, grated
2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
¼ cup finely chopped coriander leaves
½ tsp jeera / cumin seeds
½ tsp ajwain / carom seeds / omam
1 tbsp mustard oil
1 tbsp pickle spice
½ tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste

For the chokha:2 large potatoes, boiled
1 medium size onion, finely chopped
4-5 large cloves garlic
1 large tomato
2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
½ tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Salt to taste
1 tsp mustard oil

Method:To make dough for litti:Sieve the flour and add all the ingredients, knead it into a not too soft dough with warm water. Cover the dough and keep aside for 30 minutes.

To make stuffing/pitthi:Take out sattu in a mixing bowl and add jeera, ajwain, ginger, green chillies, coriander, pickle spice and lemon juice. Mix well to form a crumbly mixture. Add 1 tbsp water if it is very dry.

To make litti:1. Divide the dough into lemon size balls. Take one ball and flatten between palms. With the help of fingers, expand the dough to 2-3 inches in diameter.

2. Place 1 tbsp of the stuffing and bring all sides to the middle and seal completely. Pinch off the the extra dough from top and gently flatten them.

3. Preheat the oven to 200 C / 392 F. Prepare the remaining litti and place on a baking tray. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until brown, flipping every 10 minutes.

To make chokha:1. Peel the potatoes and mash them coarsely. Set aside.

2. In a preheated oven at 220 C / 425 F, place the tomato and garlic in a baking tray and roast for 30 minutes. Allow to cool and peel the skin. Keep in a bowl and mash with a spoon.

3. Add this to the mashed potatoes along with onion, ginger, green chillies, coriander leaves, oil and salt. Combine well.

How to serve:Dip hot litti in ghee and serve with a bowl of chokha and green coriander chutney.

My Notes:1. Do not apply any extra flour while shaping or rolling the litti.

2. Instead of oven roasting garlic and toamto, you can also roast them on gas flame for 12-15 minutes on medium flame.

3. If you do not like the raw taste of mustard oil in chokha, you can heat the oil and add to the chokha.

4. While baking the litti, flip them at regular intervals to ensure even cooking.

5. Pickle spice is the wet oily masala in a pickle excluding the pieces. I have used the mango pickle here.

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