Litti Chokha Recipe is a special delicacy from the state of Bihar. Litti is ghee dunked wheat balls, stuffed with sattu and some Indian spices, which is then served along with chokha, which is a mix of grilled eggplant, tomato, garlic with roasted whole red chilies, coriander leaves, and salt.
About Litti Chokha Recipe:
Litti is a staple food, made in most of the household in Bihar.
This along with chokha, is a complete meal that originated from the Indian state of Bihar but is also a popular street food in Jharkhand and parts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
It has a very rustic and earthy flavor to it. Though it seems like a difficult recipe, it isn’t really that difficult.
Do give it a try and you’ll enjoy the whole dish. And most importantly after making it once you will become a pro and can make these litti’s with ease.
Traditionally, to get an authentic taste litti’s were cooked in low fire of cow dung cake so that they are baked properly and the inside fillings are cooked and mixed well.
But the unavailability of traditional chulha’s and the inconvenience of using cow dung cakes has led to modern cooking methods like using a grill, kadai, unniappam pan, oven, etc…
This dish used to be pocket friendly for the working classes and also healthy in terms of proteins and nutrients. It would stay fresh for a longer period of time. So it was considered as a great option to pack while traveling.
And by any chance, if you too plan to pack these while traveling then I would suggest packing it with any kind of pickle(achar). Because bharta might get spoilt easily.
Basic ingredients used for Litti Chokha Recipe
Whole Wheat Flour – To make the outer cover, we are using whole wheat flour here, which is one of the reasons for this recipe being a healthy one.
Sattu Flour – For stuffing, you will need Sattu (roasted gram flour), which is the key ingredient for this recipe. And you might be aware that sattu is also considered as a superfood now.
Mustard Oil – Mustard oil gives this recipe a pungent flavor, which I really like. So if you notice here I have used mustard oil while kneading dough, preparing stuffing and preparing bharta. If you want you can reduce the quantity of mustard oil used in this recipe or, you can replace it with ghee.
Pickle Masala – Just to add an extra spicy flavor, pickle masala is being used. Usually in Bihar, mango pickle or red chili pickle masalas are added for stuffing. But if you don’t have one, you can use any other pickle masala, or else you can use amchur powder as a replacement.
Spices – Herbs and spices used to flavor include ginger, garlic, coriander leaves, lime juice, carom seeds, and salt.
Ghee – Dipping litti’s in desi ghee gives it a nice flavor.
Baingan ka Chokha – This is very much similar to baingan ka bharta. It’s a great preparation consisting of roasted baingan(eggplant or, brinjal), tomatoes and garlic.
A simple flavouring of roasted dry red chilli, green chilli, chopped coriander, mustard oil, and salt are added in it, to make it delicious.
Serving Suggestion:
Serve Bihari litti along with aloo, tomato or, baingan chokha, accompanied with a small bowl of melted ghee.
Break the litti, dip it in ghee for a more traditional way of serving.
You can also serve some sliced raw onion, radish, green chilli, and lemon along with it.
Another reason for its popularity back then was that it could stay fresh for as long as two to three days just like Sattu ka Paratha.
Things to be taken care:
- Make sure that you knead the dough well, else the stuffing might ooze out.
- Litti needs to be cooked well, else the dough will remain raw from inside.
- Stuff the sattu mixture generously, in order to get a proper taste of it.
- You can use a cooker or charcoal-based barbecue grill or even a traditional oven to make litti.
So, if you liked this recipe and tried making it, please do rate it in the recipe card below and do let us know your thought about this recipe. We would love to hear from you. Till then….
Happy Cooking!!! 🙂
Litti Chokha Recipe
Ingredients
For Dough
- 4 cup Wheat Flour
- 4 tbsp Mustard Oil
- Salt to taste
For Stuffing
- 2 cup Sattu
- 1 tbsp Ginger roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp Garlic roughly chopped
- 4 nos Green Chilli
- 1 tbsp Pickle Masala any achar masala you can add
- 1/2 cup Coriander Leaves finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp Carom Seeds
- 1 Lemon extract juice
- 3 tbsp Mustard Oil
- Salt to taste
For Chokha
- 2 nos Brinjal
- 2 nos Tomato
- 4-5 Garlic Pods
- 2 nos Green Chilli finely chopped
- 4 tbsp Coriander Leaves finely chopped
- 1 tsp Mustard Oil
- Salt to taste
Other Ingredients
- Ghee as needed
Instructions
For Dough
- In a bowl add wheat flour, mustard oil and salt. Give it a nice mix.
- Now add water little by little and knead it to a soft and smooth dough like that of paratha. Cover and keep it aside for 20 to 30 minutes.
For Stuffing
- Add ginger, garlic, green chilli and pickle in a mixer grinder.
- Blend everything togeather and make a paste. Set aside.
- In a bowl, add sattu, green chilli, coriander leaves, Ajwain, lemon juice, mustard oil, salt and the paste we made.
- Mix everything well.
- Sprinkle little water if the mixture is dry, and mix everything well. (There should be just enough water to slightly bind it).
- Once done set aside.
For Chokha
- Brush the eggplants and tomatoes with mustard oil.
- Then place them on the grill and roast on direct low flame, till they are nicely charred from all the sides and soft in texture.(Make a small slit on the brinjal and insert some garlic pods into it, this is so that the garlic pods also gets roasted along with the brinjal).
- Remove them on to a plate and let them cool down to hand-tolerable heat.
- Remove the skin of eggplant and tomatoes. Roughly mash it and transfer it to a mixing bowl.
- Add salt, coriander leaves,mustard oil and roasted chilli. Mix everything well. Chokha is ready.
How to make Litti
- Take the dough and knead it once again for a minute.
- Similarly mix the sattu mixture also for a minute.
- Divide the dough into equal medium-sized portions.
- Make a cavity in the centre of each ball and place some prepared filling inside. Bring the ends together and seal well.
To roast littis in Jali stand
- Put the jali over the gas cooktop, put littis on it and roast on very low flame. Check and flip the littis at regular intervals until it is golden brown in color.
- Litti on jali stand is roasted and ready. It takes about 10 to 12 minutes. Lift the litti from Jali stand and put in ghee, take it out in a plate. It gives a nice taste but you can skip using ghee if not required.
To roast in Paniyaram pan
- Put the paniyaram maker to heat on very low flame. Arrange all the littis in its moulds. Roast the littis on low flame flipping from all side until golden brown or it gets roastd properly from all the sides. (here roasting process might take 15 minutes)
- Once done take it out in a plate. Brush them with some melted ghee all over.
To roast litti in a kadai
- Take a heavy bottomed kadai to make the littis.
- Heat kadai and place the littis in it to roast.
- Roast littis from all the sides covering in between on low flame.
- It takes approx 18 to 20 minutes to roast litti in kadai.
- Once done take it out in a plate. Brush them with some melted ghee all over.
To fry Litti in Kadai
- Heat oil in a pan and fry all stuffed balls till golden crisp.
- When small cracks appears on it take it out in a plate.
How to Assemble
- Serve Litti Chokha along with dollop of ghee, chokha, some sliced onion, radish, green chilli and lemon.
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions about Litti Chokha Recipe
What is Litti Chokha Made of?
Litti Chokha is combination recipe which consists of Litti and Chokha. Litti is made of a dough that is made of Whole wheat flour, which is stuffed with a mixture consisting of Sattu, ginger, garlic, green chilli, lemon juice, carom seeds and then roasted or, baked over coal or, wood fire. It is served after dipping it in ghee.
Chokha is made of roasted Brinjal and tomatoes which is then mashed and served along with Litti
Is Litti Chokha healthy?
Yes, it can be called a healthy recipe because it has whole wheat flour and sattu, both of which are good for health and the Chokha too, is made of baked brinjal and tomatoes. It doesn’t use oil because it is not fried. Instead it is roasted or, baked which make it an ideal healthy recipe. While it is traditionally served by dipping in Ghee, which has its own share of healthy advantages, you can choose to avoid it, if you so prefer.
Can you make Litti Chokha recipe without Oven?
Absolutely! You do not need an oven to make this dish and we show 3 different methods of making it without an oven in this post here.
How to eat Litti Chokha?
Litti Chokha can be served hot or, warm. Traditionally it is served by dipping the Litti in a bowl of Ghee and then it is served along with Chokha.
To eat, all you do is break a small portion of the litti, place some chokha on it and eat it. You can also simply bite off a slice of the Litti and eat a little portion of the Chokha. Whichever is a convenient way for you is entirely upto you.
Can Litti be served with Aloo Chokha recipe?
Traditionally Litti is served is Baingan (brinjal or, egg-plant) chokha only. But if you prefer you can always serve it with Aloo chokha as well.
Is Litti Chokha and Dal Batti different?
Yes, Litti Chokha and Dal batti are different in many ways. While Litti is a stuffed dumpling bakes on coal or, wood fire, Batti is a non-stuffed dumpling made of whole wheat flour and semolina mixture, which is then baked or, fried.
Similarly Litti is served with Chokha whereas Batti is served along with Dal and Churma.
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Sattu Ka Paratha
Sattu Ladoo
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