Litti chokha, the delicacy form Bihar

HYDERABAD:  Not much is usually talked about recipes from Bihar. However, people who have tried out the food in any Bihari home vouch for the flavours and taste of the dishes. With delicacies ranging from thekua and dhuska to dal pithas and some sublime mutton curry, the cuisine has perhaps the potential to become popular if publicised properly.However, one food item from Bihar that needs no introduction at all is Litti Chokha. The dish is said to have originated in the Magadh kingdom, it is a complete meal by itself providing a lot of nutrition, and predominantly a comfort food of both rural and urban areas. Littis are balls of wheat flour which are stuffed with sattu or roasted gram powder and baked over charcoal or firewood, till the upper crust is hard.

It is then drizzled with cow ghee and served with chokha, made from boiled potato, roasted tomato or grilled eggplant, with the addition of mustard oil and spices. Litti Chokha is sold by street vendors all over Bihar, and even restaurants serve it as part of the menu.While litti is a simple dish to prepare, the main taste is from the spices added to the sattu. Cumin, coriander, carom seeds, red chillies, green chillies, fennel seeds and chopped ginger and garlic all comprise the recipe. The sattu with the crushed masala  is then stuffed inside wheat flour dough balls, and baked over fires fuelled by cow dung cakes or charcoal.

For chokha, brinjals are roasted on fire before the skin is peeled off. This is then mixed with mashed potatoes and even charred tomatoes with a bit of mustard oil.  Onions, green chillies and minimal spices complete the dish.  As the vegetables are mostly boiled or roasted, the flavours remain intact, along with some smokiness introduced due to the process.  The raw mustard oil also adds to the flavour.

Chakh Le, a small eight-seater eatery in the bylanes of Kondapur is one of the few places in the city to offer litti chokha. According to Milind Sharma, one of the owners of the place, a lot of customers love this snack, especially from the IT community. They offer two well-stuffed littis with alu chokha and green chutney for a price of Rs 60. Their littis stuffed with sattu have some masala in the outer layer too and are drizzled with desi ghee. 

Opposite to DLF gate no 2 is another place known for it. However, it is not that littis are enjoyed just with chokha. Even non-vegetarian dishes like mutton and chicken gravy sometimes accompany this dish. Desi Bytes near DLF Gachibowli serves litti with chicken curry as an option apart from the usual version. 
Sabyasachi is a food enthusiast and blogs at www.foodaholix.in