Litti

A wheat ball stuffed with sattu and roasted on hot charcoal.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 400 g wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons ghee, for the dough
• about 240 ml water
• 250 g sattu, roasted black chickpea flour
• 1 onion, chopped very fine
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• a 3 cm piece of ginger, grated
• 3 green chillies, chopped
• 2 teaspoons ajwain, carom seeds
• 2 teaspoons nigella seeds
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons pickle oil, from a mango pickle
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, for the filling
• a handful of coriander leaves
• 80 g ghee, to dip

Method

1. A WHEAT BALL STUFFED WITH SATTU AND ROASTED ON HOT CHARCOAL. Its article's first sentence names the stuffing and its third names the fire: litti is A WHOLEWHEAT FLOUR DOUGH BALL STUFFED WITH A SPICED MIXTURE OF SATUI (ROASTED BLACK CHICKPEA FLOUR), and it CONSISTS OF A WHEAT DOUGH BALL FILLED WITH A MIXTURE OF ROASTED GRAM FLOUR, LEMON, SPICES, AND HERBS, WHICH IS THEN ROASTED ON HOT CHARCOAL OR FIRE.
2. WHICH IS WHAT SEPARATES IT FROM BATI, as on its own page. Bati is plain or filled and baked in an oven; this is always filled, always with sattu, and the charcoal is part of the dish rather than a convenience. The article allows the alternatives and puts them second: THEY CAN ALSO BE BAKED IN AN OVEN, ROASTED ON A TAVA OR FRIED.
3. THE FILLING IS DRY AND SHARP AND IS MIXED COLD. Sattu with onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, ajwain, nigella, lemon juice, salt and coriander, rubbed together with your fingers. The article names LEMON in the filling itself, which is unusual and is what stops a ball of roasted gram flour tasting of dust.
4. THE PICKLE OIL IS THE OTHER THING THAT MAKES IT. Two tablespoons spooned off the top of a jar of mango pickle. It is not in the article's list and it is in every good one.
5. THE DOUGH IS FIRM AND RESTED. Flour, salt, ghee and water to a dough stiffer than a chapati's, kneaded and left half an hour.
6. STUFF TEN BALLS AND SEAL THEM COMPLETELY. Press a hollow, pack the filling in hard, gather and pinch, then roll between your palms until there is no seam. A seam opens on the coals and the filling burns.
7. ROAST THEM DIRECTLY ON THE EMBERS, TURNING, FOR TWENTY MINUTES. Not in a flame -- on coals that have gone grey. They blacken in patches and crack across the top, which is the sign the inside is done. In an oven, 200C for thirty-five minutes gets close and misses the smoke.
8. CRACK THEM OPEN, DIP THEM IN MELTED GHEE, AND SERVE THEM WITH CHOKHA. Its article calls litti with chokha a complete meal, and aloo chokha is on its own page here.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes