The Indigenous food of Bihar Litti Chokha which is the taste of whole world around.......

 Litti, along with chokha, is a complete meal originated from the Indian state of Bihar. It is also popular in Jharkhand and parts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. It is a dough ball made up of whole wheat flour and stuffed with gram flour, pulses and mixed with herbs and spices and then roasted over coal or wood then it is tossed with much ghee.

What is litti chokha

Litti is the stuffed whole wheat dough ball and Chokha is a mashed relish that is served with litti. Chokha can be made with roasted eggplant (baingan), boiled or roasted potatoes (aloo) and roasted tomatoes (tamatar). You can make them separately or even combine all three and make one chokha. You can even combine the baingan and tomatoes and make one chokha and make a second one with potatoes.

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I made three different chokhas and have already posted them:

1. Baingan ka chokha,
2. Tamatar chokha and
3. Aloo chokha

Litti with the accompanying chokha is a healthy food. litti chokha is also one of the popular street food in bihar and eastern UP. During my travels to eastern UP, I did see litti chokha stalls on the roads.

I saw various methods of preparing both litti and chokha on youtube and finally made them in my own way. In the stuffing, usually red chilli pickle is added or mango pickle. I did not have either, so added some spices which are added in pickles. If you have red chili pickle or a North Indian mango pickle, then you can add some of the masala in the stuffing.

Method of preparing litti is similar to dal baati of Rajasthan, but taste wise both are miles apart. Both taste different.

Preparing litti chokha is easy but takes a lot of time. So make them at your own pace and time. For the stuffing you will need sattu. Sattu is basically roasted gram flour. If you do not have sattu, then use roasted chana dal without the husks and grind them. Then sieve the flour and use it.

Litti is usually roasted on hot charcoal or dried cow dung fire. This is the traditional method of roasting litti and the taste of littis made this way is very different. At homes an oven can be used to bake littis. If you have charcoal based open grill, then you can use it for roasting littis. You can even roast them on tawa or fry them.

The litti can be cooked in various methods

1. Baking in oven : I have explained the baking method in this post.
2. Roasting on tawa: just flatten the littis and roast them on a hot tawa on a low flame. Cook them till you see charred spots on them.
3. Deep frying in oil: you can shape the littis like kachoris and then deep fry them in oil. But do take care to seal them properly.
4. Grilling on tandoor: grill littis on tandoor till they are cooked and slightly charred.

In the step by step photos post, I have only mentioned how to make littis and not chokha, as then it will become too long a post. But in the recipe card given below, I have mentioned all the three recipes of chokha.

How to make litti chokha

A) preparing dough cover

1. In a mixing bowl, take 2 cups whole wheat flour/atta (240 grams) and ¼ teaspoon salt. Also add 1 tablespoon ghee or oil.

2. Now add water in parts and knead to a smooth soft dough. I added ¾ cup water. Depending on the quality of flour, you can add ¾ to 1 cup water.

3. Knead till smooth and soft. Cover the dough and keep aside.

Preparing stuffing for litti

1. In a mortar-pestle take ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and ½ teaspoon saunf (fennel seeds). lightly crush them and keep aside.

2. Take 1 cup sattu/roasted gram flour in a mixing bowl or pan.

3. Add the slightly crushed cumin seeds and fennel seeds.

4. Now add ½ teaspoon ajwain, ½ teaspoon nigella seeds and ½ teaspoon red chilli powder.

5. Next add 1 to 2 teaspoons chopped green chilies, 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger and 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic.

6. Add 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves and ¼ teaspoon black salt. Also add regular salt as per taste.

7. Add 2 teaspoons lemon juice.

8. Next add 2 teaspoons mustard oil.

9. Mix very well.

10. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons water all over and mix the flour with water evenly. Do add more water if required. The sattu stuffing mixture should not be too dry or too wet. If the mixture is dry, then the dryness is felt when eating littis.

Stuffing and making litti

11. After 30 minutes, now make small or medium sized balls from the dough.

12. first method – sprinkling little flour, roll each dough ball to a circle of about 5 to 6 inches.