Litti-Chokha

Roasted wheat balls stuffed with spiced sattu, served with a smoky vegetable mash.

Litti-chokha
Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-4.0

Litti-chokha is the rustic icon of the Bihar–Mithila table: balls of wheat dough stuffed with spiced sattu (roasted gram flour) and roasted over coals until smoky and crisp, then bathed in ghee. It is eaten with chokha — a mash of fire-roasted brinjal, potato and tomato, sharpened with mustard oil, garlic, green chilli and coriander.

A simple method: knead a stiff wheat dough; mix sattu with chopped onion, garlic, green chilli, ajwain, kalonji, lemon and mustard oil; fill the dough, seal and roast over flame or in an oven until cracked and golden; roast the vegetables, peel and mash with seasonings; serve the littis dipped in ghee beside the chokha.

Sources