Sunday, December 31, 2017

Litti Choka - Famous Traditional Bihari snack

 

Litti Chokha , a traditional dish of Bihar served as an evening snack . In this Litti are served with chokha made of potato , brinjal and tomato .History says Litti was eaten by the peasants and farmers of Bihar.



For the December 2017 , Ssshhhh secretly cooking , I was paired with Archana Potdar of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen . She gave me the secret ingredients as sattu and . I was delighted to try out this Litti along with Chokha. This was a wonderful snack and everyone in our family liked it.

According to Wikipedia , Litti , along with chokha is a complete meal originated from the indian subcontinent and popular in Indian states of bihar , Jharkhand , parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh as well as Nepalese state of Madhesh.

It is a dough ball made up of whole wheat flour and stuffed with sattu ( roasted chickpea flour ) mixed with herbs and `spijces and then roasted over coal  or cow dung cakes or wood then it is tossed with  lots of ghee . It may be eaten with  yogurt , baigan bharta , alu bharta and papad. The litti are traditionally baked over a cow dung fire.

 Herbs and spices used to flavor the litti include onion , garlic , ginger , coriander leaves , lime juice , carom seeds , nigella seeds  and salt . Tasty pickles can also be used to add spice flavor.

 In the western Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh , litti is served with murgh Korma .

Litti was a war food , it is carried by the soldiers in ancient time along with dry sattu powder. Litti can last for day and it gives us protein , carbohydrates and other minerals . It could be consumed on long march or during rest hours . Litti helps body retain water content of the body if consumed with Jaggery.

As I can’t find dried cow dung , I baked the littis in the oven.


Requirements : 

For Litti : 

2 cup Wholewheat flour 
1 Tbs Ghee 
Half tsp salt 
1 cup Water 

For Litti Filling :   

1 cup Sattu ( Roasted Bengalgram flour ) 
1 tsp cumin seeds 
1 Tsp Fennel seeds 
1 tsp carom seeds 
1/2 tsp Onion Seeds 
1 tsp red chilli powder 
2 finely chopped green chilli 
1 tsp finely chopped Ginger 
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
2 tbs chopped coriander 
2 tbs lemon juice 
2 tbs vegetable oil 
water as required 
salt to taste

For Tamatar Chokha : 

5 medium  tomato 
2 Green chilli 
4 cloves Garlic
4 tbs chopped coriander leaves
2 tbs lemon Juice
salt to taste 
For Aloo Chokha : 
3 Potato 
1 onion 
3 Green chilli 
4 cloves garlic
1/2 of Lemon Juice 
2 tbs chopped Coriander leaves 
salt to taste

For Serving : 
Ghee 




Method: 

Making of Litti : 
Outer Covering of Litti : 

In a bowl , mix together whole wheat flour , salt and ghee. Sprinkle little water at a time and mix well. 

Knead a soft and supple dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes. 

Stuffing of Litti : 

I like using the spices as a whole , so while eating when you bite the spices it will be a nice punch. 

You can use a morter to crush the spices and add , if you don't like to bite them. 

In a bowl , add the sattu , cumin , fennel , carom , onion seeds and mix well. 

To this add the red chilli powder , salt , chopped coriander leaves , green chilli , ginger and garlic. While mixing , just crush these ingredients with your hand to infuse the flavor. 

Now , add the lemon juice and vegetable oil . Mix all the ingredients well. 

The mixture may seem dry , sprinkle little water and mix well till you feel moisture in the sattu mixture. 

If this mixture is dry , it will be even more dry after the baking of litti. So make sure the sattu mixture is somewhat moist. 


Shaping of Litti : 

Divide the whole wheat dough in to small balls.
You can use roti press to flatten the dough balls.

I shaped with hands , to a cup and placed a spoonful of stuffing of sattu mixture and sealed the edges and shaped to a round ball. 

Repeat the same for the remaining dough.
Arrange the prepared litti on the baking tray and brush melted butter on them.

Bake on the preheated oven @ 200*C for 30 - 40 minutes or till the the outer covering of litti became brown. 

After half of the baking time , turn over the littis to other side , so  the whole of the litti is cooked evenly.

Making of Tamatar Chokha : 

                 

Tamatar means Tomato in Hindi .Grill the Tomatoes, when they crack and charred , take off flame. 

Let it cool and peel off the skin and chop roughly.
Add chopped green chilli , Garlic , coriander leaves and lemon juice.
Add salt as required.
Mix well, Tamatar chokha is ready.

Making of Aloo Chokha : 

                               

Aloo means Potato in Hindi . 
Boil the potates, peel off the skin. 
Mash the potatoes. Add the chopped onion , green chilli , Garlic , coriander leaves , salt and lemon juice. Mix all well.
Aloo Chokha is ready.

Serving of Litti : 

Serve the Littis with a bowl of each chokha along with a bowl of melted ghee.




Note : 

As , the roasted bengal gram flour ( sattu ) is not available in my place , i grounded the roasted bengal gram to fine powder on my own. 

Some add carom and nigella ( onion ) seeds to the dough for outer covering , I kept mine as plain dough. 

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Key Shaped Challah with Fingermillet #BREADBAKERS



Wholegrains are highly nutritious and healthy . Our ancestors used a lot of wholegrains that are hand milled to make flour. That was the secret of their healthy living without any disease.




     For this month’s Bread Bakers the theme chosen by Kalyani of Sizzling Taste Buds was Favorite holiday breads from around the world , made healthier with   Wholegrain   Flours.

  I chose to make this Key shaped Challah bread with the Fingermillet Flour.

Finger millet is rich source of calcium . It is commonly given to pregnant women and nursing mothers in my place. Even the porridge is mixed to the water and feed to cattle which recently delivered their young one.

I made this bread with homemade fingermillet flour and wholewheat flour along with brown sugar.

I shaped the bread into key shaped after reading that the Jews make this Key shaped Challah bread in honor of Shabbat after Pesach.
Requirements :

Fingermillet flour – 2 cup
Whole wheat flour – 2 cup
Luke  warm water  - 1 ½  - 2 cup
Instant Dry Yeast – 2 ½ tbs
Salt – 1 tbs
Brown sugar – 1 ½  cup
White Sesame seeds

Method :

In a bowl , mix the finger millet flour and wheat flour.

Add the yeast , brown sugar and salt , mix well.

Now , add the lukewarm water little at a time  and mix the dough.

Knead with your hands till the dough becomes soft and smooth and must not stick to hand.

Knead for about 10 -15 minutes.


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Transfer to a bowl and apply melted butter on top . Cover and let the dough double in volume.  

Take the dough and divide into two small portions and a large portion.

With the large portion roll it into a lengthy log. 

Take a small portion and half of another small portion and roll it into a lengthy rope and place it on top of the log as in pattern of eight. Usually they shape with a single piece of dough , as it was my first time i can't shape so effectively. 

Then with the remaining dough make two small logs and attach on the sides of the tip of the key.

Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle sesame seeds on top . 

Let the bread for second rise before baking about 30 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven @ 200*C for 30 minutes.

Let the bread cool on the rack .
Key shaped Challah with Finger Millet is ready to serve. 

The bread was so flavourful with the addition of fingermillet flour . Though the key was split in the middle after baking , but I was happy that I tried a new shape of bread.



  • 100% Whole Wheat Bread from Cook's Hideout  
  • Gingerbread and Oatmeal Bread from Mayuri's Jikoni  
  • Kamut Cloverleaf Rolls from Cindy's Recipes and Writings  
  • Key-Shaped Challah with Finger Millet from Sara's Tasty Buds  
  • Khameeri Puri from Sneha's Recipe
  • Oats Whole Wheat Bread from The Mad Scientist's Kitchen
  • Santa Lucia Buns from Karen's Kitchen Stories  
  • Slovak Pasca from Ambrosia
  • Spelt Banana Bread from Food Lust People Love  
  • Swedish Limpa from Palatable Pastime  
  • Whole Wheat Grissini from A Day in the Life on the Farm
  • Whole Wheat Stollen from All That's Left Are The Crumbs  
  • Wholewheat Garlic Flavoured Monkey Bread from Sizzling Tastebuds