Litti chokha is a staple food of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, it is a healthy dish made with minimal oil and cooking.
Basically, Litti is a ball of dough stuffed with spicy & tangy sattu filling, sattu is roasted gram flour and Chokha is the roasted vegetable mix served with it.
Litti looks more similar to the Rajsthani Bati but taste-wise both are miles apart. Both are different in taste.
Being a Bihari, I have been eating Litti Choka since childhood. My mom usually prepares it almost every weekend.
Actually, we would like to have it every day, but since it takes lots of time and patience to prepare it, we generally have it on weekends.
My mom serves it with ghugni, potato gravy sometimes instead of regular Chokha. But it tastes pretty good even with ghugni and potato gravy too.
I have learnt this recipe from my mom. This delicious Litti Chokha can be served for dinner or lunch.
What is Litti?
Litti is a ball of wheat flour dough stuffed with spicy & tangy sattu filling. Sattu is the key ingredient of this recipe, Sattu is nothing but roasted gram flour.
The filling is made with Sattu, lots of spices & herbs, pickle masala, lemon juice, and mustard oil. If you don’t have Sattu then use roasted chana or chana dal without husk, grind them in a grinding jar.
Then sieve and use. The stuffed dough balls are then cooked over coal or cow dong cake on low heat to get cooked well from inside too.
Litti can be served in dinner or lunch with Chokha and melted ghee (clarified butter). It can also be packed for travel, as it remains fresh for a longer time. I usually save some Litti for the next day because I like leftover Litti more compare to fresh hot Litti.
What is Chokha in Litti Chokha Recipe?
Chokha is made with roasted brinjal (eggplant), boiled or roasted potatoes, roasted tomatoes, and a lot of herbs like onion, garlic, green chilies, ginger, and lemon juice.
The main ingredient of this recipe is mustard oil, which gives a pungent taste to the Chokha. It is more similar to bharta, but the taste and cooking methods are different.
There are so many varieties in Chokha like Baingan (Brinjal) Chokha, Potato Chokha, Tomato Chokha, Parwal (Pointed gourd) Chokha, Turai (Sponge gourd) Chokha and so on.
Sometimes, when I am in hurry I prefer to boil instead of roasting vegetables, simply take peeled & chopped brinjal, potato and some tomatoes along with chopped green chilies and ginger with 2 tablespoons of water in a pressure cooker, cook it until one whistle. After that mash them well with the ladle, finally make a tempering of black mustard seeds, asafetida and dry red chili, pour this tempering to chokha, drizzle some lemon juice and mix well. Quick & Easy chokha is ready without roasting vegetables.
You can mix all of them and make one Chokha. Here I am going to make one mix Chokha only.
How To Make Litti Chokha Recipe
Here are the ingredients and methods of Litti and Chokha. In this post, I have shared step-by-step methods and tips & tricks of making a good Litti and Chokha.
Litti Chokha, especially Litti takes lots of time and patience to prepare it, so make them at your pace and time
So let’s begin with the recipe without any further delay.
Ingredients For Dough:
- Wheat flour- 2 cups
- Oil or Ghee- 1 tablespoon
- Carom seeds- 1/3 tsp
- Salt- 1/2 teaspoon or as per taste
- Water- as required for kneading dough
Ingredients For Stuffing:
- Sattu (roasted gram flour)- 1 cup
- Onion- 1 tablespoon (finely chopped)
- Garlic-1 teaspoon (finely chopped)
- Ginger- 1 teaspoon (grated or finely chopped)
- Green chili- 1-2 (finely chopped)
- Pickle masala- 2-3 teaspoon
- Lemon juice- 2 teaspoon
- Nigella seeds- 1/3 teaspoon
- Carom seeds- 1/3 teaspoon
- Green coriander- 2 tablespoon (finely chopped)
- Mustard oil- 2-3 teaspoon
- Salt- 1/2 tsp or as per taste
- Water- 1-2 tablespoon or as required
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Ingredients For Chokha:
- Brinjal or eggplant- 1 medium size
- Potato- 2 medium size (boiled)
- Tomato- 2-3 medium size
- Onion- 1 small size (finely chopped)
- Green chili- 3-4 (finely chopped) or according to your taste
- Ginger- 1/2 inch (finely chopped)
- Lemon juice- 1 tablespoon
- Green coriander- 2 tablespoon (finely chopped)
- Mustard oil- 1 tablespoon
- Salt- 1/2 teaspoon or as per taste
Instructions:
For Dough:
- In a large bowl, add wheat flour, oil or ghee, salt. Mix all the ingredients well by rubbing with your hand.
- Add water little by little and knead it into a semi soft dough.
- Cover the dough and keep aside for 10-15 minutes.
For Stuffing:
- In a large bowl, add 1 cup Sattu.
- Also add chopped onion, garlic, green chilies, ginger, green coriander, carom seeds, nigella seeds and salt
- Add pickle masala, lemon juice and mustard oil, combine well.
- Sprinkle little water and mix well.
- Sattu mixture needs to be moist and not dry or too wet.
Stuffing and making Litti:
- After the dough has rested for 10 minutes, knead it a little.
- First Method- Take a small ball size piece of the dough.
- Press its edges and give it a cup like shape.
- Further fill 2-3 tablespoon of the Sattu mixture, press it slightly.
- Gently bring together outer dough cover in the center, while pressing the stuffing. Join and pinch off excess dough, then seal the edges. Roll it on your palm and give it a round ball like shape.
- Second Method- Take a small ball size piece of dough
- Sprinkle some dry flour on rolling board, roll dough ball to a circle of about 5-6 inches.
- Place 2-3 tablespoons of stuffing in the center.
- Pleat and then join its edges.
- Seal its edges nicely, roll it on your palms and give it a round ball like shape.
- Heat a appe pan and place rolled dough ball in appe pan or preheat and bake it in oven at 180 degree celsius for 45 minutes flipping in between.
- Cover and cook on low flame for 10 minutes.
- Flip it and cook it well from both the sides, it takes approx 30 minutes total in cooking.
- Cook it until golden brown colour from all the sides and cooked from inside
- Finally, Litti is ready to serve. Serve these Bihari Style Litti with spicy & tangy Chokha and a small bowl of melted ghee.
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For Chokha:
- Roast the brinjal and tomatoes over direct flame until nicely charred.
- Remove them on a plate and keep aside for cool it down slightly.
- Remove the skin of the brinjal and tomatoes, add boiled potatoes and mash them nicely.
- Further, add chopped onion, tomatoes, green chilies, ginger, green coriander, lemon juice, mustard oil and salt. Mix well all the ingredients well.
- Tasty Chokha is ready to serve with Litti.
Serving:
- Put Chokha in a bowl, dip hot Litti in melted ghee, Litti can also be broken at center and then dipped in melted ghee.
- Serve it with Chokha and green coriander chutney.
Tips for Litti Chokha Recipe:
- Do use good quality of Sattu, as it is the key ingredient of Litti. And its taste much depends on Sattu itself.
- Firstly, Litti need to be cooked very well, else it will remain raw from inside.
- Dough of Litti should not be too hard, semi soft dough is perfect for Litti.
- Finely chopped or grated radish can also be added in Sattu stuffing and instead of lemon juice dry mango powder can also be added in Sattu mixture.
- Sattu stuffing should not be too wet or too dry.
- Additionally, stuff Sattu stuffing generously, as they make Litti more delicious.
- Traditionally, Litti cooks over hot charcoal or dry cow dong cake fire, however it also be cooked in various method like roasting in appe pan, baking in oven, grilling on tandoor, roasting on tawa, deep frying in oil e.t.c.
- Do choose fresh and firm brinjal for making chokha recipe.
- Do use juicy and sour tomatoes in making chokha, which gives a nice tangy taste to the chokha.
- Litti Chokha Recipe can also be served with Ghughni or spicy Potato curry instead of regular Chokha.
Nutrition Data Litti Chokha
2 pieces of litti and chokha (210 g)
| Nutrition | Estimated Value |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Carbs | 50 g |
| Fiber | 8.4 g |
| Protein | 10.5 g |
| Total Calories | 290 cal |