Where it comes from
Field food from Bihar and eastern UP: roasted gram flour sealed inside dough and baked in cow-dung embers, so it travels for days without spoiling. Armies on the march are said to have run on it.
Method
- 1
Make a stiff dough
10:00Knead the flour with a little oil, salt and water into a firmer dough than roti — it must hold a filling.
- 2
Mix the sattu filling
08:00Rub sattu with mustard oil, garlic, ginger, carom, nigella, pickle masala and lemon until crumbly-moist.
- 3
Stuff and shape
10:00Fill each dough ball generously, seal, and roll smooth between your palms.
- 4
Roast the litti
30:00Bake or roast over coals, turning, until cracked and dark-spotted all over, then dunk in melted ghee.
- 5
Make the chokha
15:00Char brinjal and tomato directly on the flame, peel, and mash with mustard oil, garlic, chilli and salt.
Cook's notes
- The filling should just hold together when squeezed — too wet and the litti splits.
- Char the brinjal until the skin blisters black; that smoke is the dish.
