Sattu or Chatu (in Bengali) is a flour of dry roasted grains such as barley, bengal gram, millet, corn etc. In Bihar sattu is used extensively in different sweet and savoury dishes. They generally use the sattu of bengal gram. Whereas in Punjab barley sattu is much popular. One can easily confuse Sattu with bengal gram flour or besan. The former is a fiber rich and nutritious food. One glass of water mixed with sattu, salt, sugar and lemon juice is a healthy and energetic start for a day.

Till date I have tasted two dishes of Bihar – one is sattu paratha, made by my mother and second one is litti, prepared by a Bihari guy I met in Germany. Although both have been delicious, my favourite is the paratha. Again this recipe, which I share with you is stolen from my mother’s cook book 🙂 😉

Ingredients for 5-6 Paratha:

1. Plain flour – ½ cup
2. Wheat flour – ½ cup
3. Pinch of salt
4. Lukewarm water for kneading
5. Cooking oil for frying the paratha + 1 tbspoon

For stuffing :

1. Sattu or Chatu – 1 cup
2. Chopped onion – 1 (medium size)
3. Chopped green chilli – 2
4. Ginger minced – 1 tbspoon
5. Nigella seeds or kala jeera – 1 teaspoon
6. Lemon juice – 1 tbspoon
7. Sugar – ½ teaspoon
8. Salt to taste
9. Mustard oil – 1 tbspoon
10. Little water to bind the sattu

Procedure :

Mix wheat and plain flour in a large bowl. Add pinch of salt and 1 tbspoon of oil in it, mix well. Add lukewarm water, little at a time to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for few minutes until it is smooth. Keep it aside in an air tight container for at least 10 minutes.

To make the filling, mix all the ingredients under the heading “stuffing” in a bowl and just bring them together. Divide the mixture into five or six equal parts.

Divide the dough into five or six equal parts and make flat round balls out of them.

Flatten each ball by pressing with finger and make a cavity at the center of the ball (try to flatten them through edges, don’t let the center become too thin). Now place one of the six sattu mixture in this cavity and close it from all sides, roll between your palms to get a flat round shaped ball. Stuff remaining balls with sattu mixture the same way.

Now roll each stuffed ball, on a floured work surface, into a circle of 16 – 18 cm. diameter or in a size of roti or paratha.

Heat a tawa or flat frying pan over medium flame. Place the paratha on hot tawa/pan and bake for few seconds, flip it and bake the other side for few seconds. Then add 1 tbspoon of oil and fry evenly both sides of paratha till it gets nice golden colour.

Serve hot with chutney, curd or sauce.

Note :

1. You can make the dough completely with wheat flour.
2. Adjust the quantity of lemon juice according to your taste.