Litti chokha comes from Bihar and Jharkhand. Litti is baked whole wheat dumpling and has been explained in detail in the previous post which you can find here. Litti is served with chokha. Chokha is prepared with eggplant/baigan. The same is roasted and mixed with onions, tomatoes, garlic, green chilies, fresh coriander, and flavored with mustard oil, lemon juice, etc. This is the authentic way of making chokha. Nowadays chokha is prepared using different vegetable also, such as aloo ka chokha, tamatar ka chokha, etc. No one in my family eats baigan. And I was keen to try litti chokha recipe. Therefore I prepared tamatar ka chokha as well as aloo ka chokha for my litti.
Roasted tomatoes, mashed and mixed with fresh ingredients such as onions, coriander leaves, chopped chilies, garlic (I like to roast my garlic for the chokha recipes), with a drizzle of mustard oil and few drops of lemon juice, etc. makes a great side dish for litti called tamatar ka chokha.
Litti chokha is very popular in Bihar and Jharkhand. Reason being, litti is prepared with sattu and sattu was considered to be the protein of the poor. However, now it is super popular and everyone tries to include sattu in his or her diet. Litti chokha is certainly the most scrumptious way of doing that.
Well authentically and traditionally chokha is an eggplant/brinjal based dish. It is pretty simple to make. I feel it falls somewhere between a chutney and a salad. I have prepared chokha with tomatoes. Here is all that is required to make tamatar ka chokha
Tomatoes: I have used tall and firm tomatoes to make chokha. I do not prefer the tangy variety of tomatoes for my chokha recipe.
Other fresh ingredients: A number of fresh ingredients are added to make chokha; onions, green chilies, coriander leaves, garlic, lemon juice. I prefer to roast the garlic and add to the chokha.
Mustard oil: This is an essential part of the litti chokha recipe and it should not be skipped or substituted. Mustard oil gives a lot of flavor and sharpness to chokha.
Very close to chokha is chutney that my grandmom used to make. It is the anaardana ki chutney. You might also like our collection of green chutney recipes
which you can view here.
Serve tamatar ka chokha with hot litti dipped in ghee for a weekend lunch.
1.This recipe serves 2-3 persons.
2.Place a wired stand on the gas flame. Grease the tomatoes with little mustard oil and place on the stand.
3.Let the tomatoes roast till the skin turns black. This will take 20-25 minutes. Keep rotating the tomatoes to ensure proper roasting. Thereafter transfer in a plate and remove the skin.
4.Mash the tomatoes and mix other ingredients I, 2-3 tbsp of chopped onion, 1 chopped green chili, a handful of chopped coriander leaves, 2 roasted and chopped garlic cloves, juice of a lemon, 1 tbsp mustard oil (sarso ka tel) and salt to taste. Mix well.
5.Bon appétit!
PREP TIME 10 minutes
COOK TIME 20-25 minutes
TOTAL TIME 30-35 minutes
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