Litti chokha is a dish very close to many a heart.This is a must have in Bihar.Just like Dal Bafla in Indore and Dal Bati in Rajasthan.
You could actually call all of them as cousins.All of them are made with wheat flour.Traditionally, these round balls cooked on coal.However, you can bake them at home on an oven grill.Only,the curry differs.While we serve Bati and Bafla with lentils, litti comes with vegetable mash.Another prominent feature is mustard oil.The mode of cooking changes from ghee to mustard oil as you reach Bihar and Bengal from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.Thus changing from dairy to vegan.
Where is it popular?
This dish brings back memories of rustic rural India.It is very popular in Bihar and surrounding areas.
On Chatth pooja, this dish is a small remembrance to all our Bihari friends.
I have enjoyed having this recipe during my vacation to Patna and Benaras.
Clear vivid memories flood my vision when I write about it.Small rooftop dhaba near Patna station.No fancy decor but best food you can ever have. They make it on coal day in day out.
Benaras is a pleasant surprise.Small street food stalls selling them fresh along with chola rice.Great price for college students.Well,it may be a distant dream to visit but the taste lingers on.Now,when you cannot visit Bihar, you gotta make your own at home.
I have enjoyed having this recipe during my vacation to Patna and Benaras.
Vivid memories of a rooftop dhaba near Patna station.They make it on coal day in day out.No fancy decor but best food you can ever have.Benaras was a surprise.Small street food stalls near an open ground selling them fresh along with chola rice.Great price for college students.Well,it may be a distant dream to visit but the taste lingers on.
Now,when you cannot visit Bihar, you gotta make your own at home.
Scroll below to read the recipe of Litti chokha
Scroll below to read the recipe of Litti chokha
Ingredients
- 1 cup wholemeal flour
- a pinch of baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ajwain(caraway seeds)
- 2 tbsp oil.
- water for kneading
- 1 cup Sattu
- 1 tbsp Pickle masala
- Black salt
- 1 tsp mustard oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp chopped ginger and chillies
- 2-3 tomatoes
- 1-2 brinjal
- 1 sweet potato
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- Salt
- 1 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Knead a semi-tight dough for litti.
- Mix the stuffing ingredients,check for salt, add more if required.
- Roll the dough and stuff the litti stuffing,shape them into balls
- Cook the litti on an open grill or an oven.
- While cooking on a grill, keep rotating it slowly.
- While cooking in a oven,cooking at 160 deg C(fan forced)
- It will be ready when it cracks a bit or turns brown
- Cook the vegetables on a grill/gas/Oven.
- Peel the skin off, mix with salt,oil and lemon juice.
- Adjust salt accordingly.
Cooking the sweet potato is an easy option on grill/oven/gas, however cooking the potato can be challenging, hence boil it and mix it with grilled vegetables.
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