I had litti chokha for the first time when I was ten years old at our family friend’s home. Made in the traditional method using cow-dung cakes, it was an experience! It was the first time I had seen such a different style of cooking. Litti dunked in ghee is served with Chokha made of brinjal and green coriander chutney. This is one vegetarian food I can have anytime.
I got this recipe from another family friend hailing from Bihar. She would make it often and was my dependable source for Litti chokha. I made sure that I take this recipe before moving to a different city.
Dough Ingredients
- Whole Wheat Flour- 3 cups
- Desi Ghee- 3 tablespoons
- Curd-3 tablespoons
- Salt- 1/2 teaspoon
Method
- Make a soft dough by mixing everything
- Cover it with a damp cloth for at-least 2 hours
Stuffing Ingredients
- Sattu flour(roasted chana daal flour) – 1 1/2 cups
- Mustard oil -1 tblspn
- Onion chopped medium size – 1
- Garlic cloves chopped – 6
- Green chilly chopped -1
- Ginger grated – 1 inch
- Coriander chopped -1/4 cups
- Carrom seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Nigella seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Lemon juice/Dry mango powder -1 tblspn
- Salt-As per taste
- Mango Pickle -2 tblspn
- Water – 1-2 tblspn
Method
- Mix everything together well. Mixture should be just about damp enough to be ok for filling
Method for Shaping the littis
- Divide the dough in to 12 medium size balls
- Using your hands flatten the balls a little and fill with stuffing made earlier
- Seal well
- Rub very little ghee over them and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 30-35 minutes
- Once done grill it on gas stove for few seconds. This will get that charred effect.
- Dip it in ghee immediately to make them soft
Chokhha Ingredients
- Brinjal – 1 medium size
- Tomatoes – 2 medium sized
- Potato boiled – 1
- Onion chopped – 1 small
- Garlic cloves chopped – 4
- Green chilly chopped – 1
- Green coriander chopped – ½ tblspn
- Mustard oil – ½ tsp
- Salt to taste
Method
- Grill the brinjal directly over gas stove/flame evenly from all sides
- Let it cool and peel away the charred skin
- Grill the tomatoes same way and peel away the skin
- Mash brinjal, tomatoes and boiled potato in a bowl
- Add onion, garlic cloves, green chilly, coriander, salt, mustard oil and mix thoroughly
Notes
- Mustard oil cannot be replaced by any other oil
- Use of hands is unavoidable while making chhokha
- Tomatoes should be the red juicy variety
- Mango pickle is used for the stuffing, however I have used lemon/chilli pickle as well