Like India itself, the local cuisine is full of incredible and diverse flavours and spices. In this edition, Chef Kundan shares his classic Chicken Tikka Paté as well as one from his own hometown of Bihar, the ‘Litti Chokha’! The latter is a traditional North Indian vegetarian dish that is popular among the natives of Jharkhand and Eastern Uttar Pradesh – and was recently promoted by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his own Instagram page!
Litti Chokha
Ingredients for litti dough
For stuffing
For tomato chokha
Step 1
Method for dough preparation
In a large mixing bowl add wheat flour, carrom seeds, salt, clarified butter and water as required to knead a smooth dough
Step 2
Method for making stuffing
In a large bowl add roasted gram flour, chopped chili, mustard oil, crushed aniseeds, lemon juice, salt and water as required and combine all to make a moist stuffing
Step 3
Stuffing and shaping the litti
Make medium sized balls from the dough. Roll the dough balls to a circle about 6 inches with a rolling pin
Place 3 table spoons of stuffing in the Centre and fold up the sides to enclose the stuffing carefully inside the dough to form a ball and pinch the dough edges together to stick to it well and roll it between the palms to give a smooth round ball shape
Keep the prepared littis covered with a damp cloth
Grease the baking tray and place the littis in the baking tray
Preheat the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degree before baking
Bake the littis for 15 minutes and take out the tray and flip each litti .repeat it every 15 minutes till the littis are baked and turns in golden color.
Tomato chokha
Clean the tomatoes in water and roast it in the oven till charred, remove from oven let the tomatoes cool down.
Peel the charred skin of tomatoes and chop the tomatoes
Add chopped chilli, chopped garlic, chopped onion, lemon juice, ginger and mustard oil add salt to taste and mix well.
Serve these littis with tomato chokha accompanied with a small bowl of clarified butter
Chicken Tikka Paté
Ingredient
For making pate
Method
Whisk the natural yoghurt and add chopped ginger, chopped garlic, mustard oil, garam masala, chili powder, and lemon juice, salt to taste and prepare a marinade.
Add chicken cubes to the marinade, cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1hr.
Preheat the oven 180`C and place the marinated chicken in a baking tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes
Take out the chicken and let it cool
Once the chicken is cool enough make smooth a paste by adding melted butter and cream in a blender
Serve cold on a hot melba toast
