Bihari Sattu Ka Paratha/Sattu Rotti

Sattu ka Paratha or Sattu Paratha is one of the most popular Indian breads in Bihar region of India. This Sattu paratha is a staple food of Biharis. Sattu is Roasted channa dal flour, and its one the execellent protein source for vegetarians of Bihar. Obviously this sattu is used in many authentic Bihari recipes. The most known dish cooked with sattu is this stuffed paratha. Not to forget that this roasted channa dal flour is full of fibre with many nutritious values in it. Its a super healthy alternative for many in Bihar as its available very much cheap there. South Indians makes excellent chutneys with roasted grams but in Bihar, they makes healthy sattu paratha with the same roasted grams aka pottukadalai (in tamil). We (South Indians) are seriously unaware of this parathas until i get a chance to prepare this nutritious flatbreads at home.

Flaky Coriander Mathiri/Khasta Dhaniya Mathiri

Mathiri is one of most famous North Indian snacks, i always want to make at home. There are two varieties of Mathiris,one is the thin,flat and very crunchy mathiris prepared by rolling the dough as thin disc which is later shaped with a cookie cutter, the next one is the thick,spicy and flaky ones. Mathiris are in my to do list since a long, but i couldnt make them earlier for some reason. But today i got an opportunity to make this thick,spicy,flaky mathiris for a cook challenge, yes this mathiris are this month's challenge for the Southern team of the  South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil. This month's host for the Northern team is me and i have challenged our opposite team with my native's special Munthiri Pakodas/Cashew Pakodas while Nupur of Uk Rasoi challenged us with this thick flaky Mathiris as the theme for this month is Evening Snacks, yes we have themes from last month and seriously am enjoying this themed challenges, so that we can cook from each category as some foods are very unknown for both teams na.

Bihari Kichdi - Bihar Special

After Assam, now we are travelling towards Bihar, this state is situated in Eastern part of India, its one of the largest states in India. Bihari cuisine is an influence of different regions of India. A normal Bihari meal consists of rice,dal,vegetable and pickle.One among the popular bihari recipe is this kichdi/Khichdi, is a one pot meal prepared by using rice,lentils and seasoned with spices. Usually this nutritious kichdi is serve with chaar yaar which goes for curd,chutney,pickles, papads,ghee and another vital item of Bihari cuisine called Chokha. Chokha is prepared simply with mashed boiled potatoes, seasoned with chopped onions, green chillies. Bihari cuisine involves sattu flour, a powder gram flour which is widely used in Litti, a another Bihari popular dish, parathas and in many drinks.

Traditionally Bihari cuisine is cooked with mustard oil which has low cholestrol content and the seasoning goes for panchforan, a mixture of 5 seeds in equal parts,the seeds are cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, aniseed, mustard seeds and onion seeds consists the panchforan.Ghee is very much used in Bihari cuisine and trust me i used ghee for tempering for making this delicious kichdi.Most of the Bihari sweets are prepared usually with dairy products. I enjoyed this bowl of comforting food with some pickle for my lunch few days back.Make this nutritious kichdi and enjoy while the weather is down,  a super comforting food definitely.

Litti Chokha ~~SN Challenge

Litti Chokha is a traditional snack and a main course dish often eaten in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand region of India. But this the first time am trying my hands in making this fantastic dish. This dish is simply awesome and highly filling that you can have it for breakfast, lunch and for dinner. Actually Litti sounds almost like Rajasthani Baati but Litti is completely different dish in terms of taste,texture and prearation,its goes for stuffing with roasted gram flour with few spices.The stuffing makes the difference and the stuffing of the Litti is called Pitthi. Litti is served along with grilleded eggplants or mashed potatoes called Chokha.Chokha is a kind of accompaniment to enjoy thoroughly with Littis, today chokha is with just potatoes, eventhough some peoples may add both eggplants and potatoes in their chokha.

You may wonder why am posting this Litti Chokha today, coz Nupur of Uk Rasoi challenged the Southern team of  South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil with this fantastic combo while i challenged Northern team with popular Mangalorean snack Goli Baje. Honestly i always want to make some Litti at home but somehow i kept myself away from this incredible dish coz of the sattu, but Nupur helped us by giving the tips to prepare sattu at home and for me sattu sounds exactly like a dry roasted gram flour, then i pinged Nupur regarding sattu, she said to go with roasted gram flour. Thanks Nupur for giving me this much liberty to go for a simple roasted gram flour than the traditional one. However i'll be making Sattu at home coz am planning to make kachori with this sattu. Coming to this Litti Chokha, am gonna have this Litti Chokha for my dinner tonite and trust me the flavour of ghee coated Litti and delicious Chokha makes me hungry already. Atleast once,you guys have to make this oven cooked Litti eventhough the traditional one is boiled and shallowfried later.Loved this challenge and learned an another beautiful traditional dish today through this challenge.

Thekua - A Cookie From Bihar

Our this month Indian Cooking Challenge stopped at Bihar, this thekua is a kind of deep fried cookies quite popular homemade dessert from Bihar and Jharkhand, since ever i joined this incredible challenge the brain child of this challenge Srivalli of Spicing Your Life never stopped surprising us by choosing many new dishes which are quite unfamiliar for a South Indian like me, seriously i have to say a big thanks to Srivalli for creating this fabulous challenge..Coming to this Thekua, its quite a unknown and a new deep fried cookies never i had or heard since ever i lived in India, all credits goes to this blogsphere everyday am learning many different dishes from each and every foodie bloggers am following since ever i started my own space..I prepared my thekua with whole wheat flour,sugar, dessicated coconut and rava and skipped completely the maida and jaggery eventhough these both ingredients are used quite often...These cookies are quite addictive and stay prefect for many days if they are conserved properly..

1cup Wheat flour
1/4cup Powdered sugar
2tsp Dessicated coconut
3tbsp Rava
4tbsp Ghee
Water to knead
Caramom powder as per need
Oil for deepfrying

Take the wheat flour,sugar,dessicated coconut,rava,cardamom powder in a bowl,add the ghee and mix everything for few minutes until they mixture turns  like breadcrumbs,slowly sprinkle the water and knead as stiff dough..roll out the dough into a thick disc and cut the dough with a cookie cutter..

Meanwhile heat the oil in a kadai,drop gently the cookies and fry on both sides until they get well crispy..Arrange in an air tightened box and enjoy for snacks with a cup of tea or coffee..