What a wonderful month December has been! Lots of travel, lots of learning, and lots of work; one cannot ask for more. One of the many learnings this month was the wonderful cuisine from the state of Bihar and here I am with one of the recipes I tried; the traditional Bihari Litti Chokha.
Litti Chokha | The Signature Dish of Bihar
I have been meaning to try Litti Chokha for a while now and when the Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge group chose Bihar as the state whose cuisine we explored, I was hoping for ingredients that I would help me try this wonderful dish. My partner for this month, Shobha Keswani who blogs at Shobha’s Food Mazaa, gave me wheat flour and lemon juice, and here I am with the recipe I wanted to try.
Litti Chokha is actually a combination of two dishes:
- Litti. Baked balls made of wheat flour and stuffed with Sattu spiced with ajwain (carom seeds), jeera (cumin), lemon juice, and more. Sattu is the flour made from roasted bengal gram and is known for its high nutrition content.
The Litti
- Chokha. This is a mash that can be made in different ways. I made mine with aloo, baingan, and tamatar (aka potatoes, brinjals, and tomatoes).
The Chokha
Sattu flour is fine-ground bhuna chana (roasted bengal gram), so you can make it at home very easily. 🙂
Chokha, when made with brinjal, is a variation of Baingan Bharta.
The end result was a spicy Litti that was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Paired with the mild aloo-baingan-tamatar Chokha, it was just a wonderful meld of flavours that made for a great main meal or just a party starter!
The Inside of a Litti
So without much ado, here is the recipe for Litti Chokha.
How to Make Litti Chokha | A Traditional Recipe from Bihar
Litti Chokha
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Wheat Flour
- 1 tsp Ajwain, Carom Seeds
- 2 tsp Ghee
- 1/4 tsp Baking Soda Optional
- Salt to Taste
- Warm Water, As Required
- 2/3 Cup Sattu
- 1 tsp Ajwain, Carom Seeds
- 1 tsp Jeera, Cumin Seeds
- 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tbsp Finely Chopped Chillies
- 2 Bharwan Lal Mirch Achar Or any other Pickle masala
- 1/3 Cup Finely Chopped Fresh Coriander
- Salt to Taste
- Water, As Required
- Ghee, As Required
- 1 Large Brinjal
- 1 Large Potato
- 2 Medium Tomatoes
- 1 Cup Finely Chopped Onion
- 3 Spicy Green Chillies
- 1" Piece Ginger
- 1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Coriander
- 2 tbsp Mustard Oil
- Salt to Taste
Instructions
- Mix together the wheat flour, ajwain, and salt.
- Add ghee and soda (if using); mix well.
- Add a little water at a time and make a firm but pliable dough.
- Cover and set aside.
- Grind together the bharwan lal mirch, green chillies and ginger to a fine paste.
- In a large bowl, combine sattu, green chilly-ginger-lal-mirch paste, salt, lemon juice, coriander, ajwain, and jeera.
- Mix well.
- If the mix is dry, add just a little bit of water and mix till the dough starts to come together.
- Set aside.
- Pre-heat the oven to 150°C.
- Divide the dough for the covering into 12 portions and roll each portion into a ball. Set aside.
- Divide the stuffing into 12 portions and roll each portion into a ball. Set aside.
- Roll each covering portion into a 3" disc.
- Place one portion of the stuffing into the centre of the disc.
- Fold the edges of the covering over the filling and roll to form a ball.
- Gently press the litti to form a slightly flattened ball.
- Brush each litti with a generous portion of ghee.
- Place all littis of a tray and bake for about 15 minutes till they turn golden brown. Turn them once or twice so that they are evenly baked.
- Remove from the oven and let cool a bit.
- Pre-heat the oven to 150°C.
- Wash the potato and scrub it clean.
- Dry the potato thoroughly and lightly coat it with oil.
- Wipe the tomatoes clean and lightly coat it with oil.
- Place the potato and tomatoes on a tray and place them in an oven.
- Check the vegetables at regular intervals and rotate them a bit.
- Remove the tomatoes from the tray as soon as the skin starts to split and the tomatoes turn mushy.
- Let the potatoes bake some more till the skin is all wrinkly.
- Remove the potato from the tray.
- Let the tomato and potato cool a bit.
- Peel and mash both the vegetables.
- While the potato and tomatoes are baking, lightly oil the brinjal and roast on an open flame.
- After the brinjal is roasted (the skin is totally charred and splits), let it cool a bit.
- Peel the brinjal and mash it.
- Combine the potato, tomato, and brinjal mash.
- Add chopped onions, coriander, chopped green chillies, mustard oil and salt.
- Mix well and your Chokha is ready.
- Set aside for at least 15 minutes so that the flavours meld.
- You could dip the warm baked Litti in some ghee or then (if you are a conservative like me) just brush them with some ghee.
- Serve with the Chokha.
I am taking this delightful dish from Bihar to the party at the Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge group.
Looks beautiful… Love the way you showed the texture
This dish is completely delightful. Ineed to try this!
Do do, Sonal. You will love it. 🙂
This looks so yummy.. I must make it soon. Really want to taste it.
The Litti Choka looks so delicious. Superb recipe. Will definitely try them sometime soon.
Thank you 🙂
Love litti chokha! Your littis and chokha look just perfect. Look forward to trying it at home.
Thank you. Happy New Year. 🙂
Happy New Year, Aruna!
beautiful shots and yummy share
Thank you!
The litti chokha look just perfect Aruna !
Looks delicious Aruna?
Beautifully done. Love the pics.
Aruna, you just nailed it ??
I’m not a big fan of litti chokha, at least the versions we get here in Bangalore. Your dish looks so, so good I want to grab a bite right away. 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Delicious Litti Chokha!I will also make it shortly..:)
I arrived home on Monday by evening and my neighbor made litti chokha for me and hubby. I love this dish and its healthy too… besides the ghee !
I hope you did dunk your Littis in ghee, Mayuri. Asfter all, we only live once. 🙂