How To Make Littis in a Paddu Maker

When a friend returned from Austin to Chennai, she brought back for her mother an ornate crockpot. Her mother unsurprisingly did not find much use for the contraption in her home cooking. For a while the crockpot was relegated to the far corner of her storage shelves. Till inspiration struck – and she converted the crockpot into a tulsi planter.

My story is not as drastic as that, but seeing my mother use her paddu maker for cooking littis raised a smile much like my friend’s story did. Paddus are not a staple food for us, so her paddu maker would mostly lie forlorn. One day my mother decided to give the equipment a "litti maker" makeover. The rounded fissures of the paddu griddle work perfectly as receptacles for litti balls. Slow cooking on the fire, with a turn or two in between, gives us littis close to the traditional fire-roasted ones.

Before the recipe, a small note on the terminology.

What’s litti?

Litti is a crusty ball stuffed with spiced sattu, dipped in ghee, served with chutneys and chokha. [In fact, litti’s association with chokha is so strong that the dish’s name is usually twinned: “litti chokha”, on the lines of rajma chawal or chhole bhature.]

Litti balls are traditionally baked in a cowdung fire; modern cooking alternatives favor the oven or the tandoor.

Here’s what littis baked in an oven, then ghee-brushed, look like:

Litti is classical Bihari food. And no, litti chokha is not the same as daal baati churma.

…and what is a “paddu maker”?

Ah. A paddu maker looks like this:

[Some of you might know this apparatus as the Japanese takoyaki pan, the Dutch aebleskiver pan, or the Indonesian kue cubit maker. Fascinating how widely differing cultures embraced the same cooking technique…]

The pan has equal-sized hemispherical depressions into which paddu batter is poured, and it’s cooked on the stovetop to make a south Indian snack paddu (also called appe / kuzhi paniyaram / guliyappa) that looks like this:

So yes, you CAN make littis without access to open fire, oven or tandoor. The basic stove top with a paddu griddle can do the job.

This article lays out the step-by-step process of making littis using a paddu maker, with images to show you how.

You Need:

{for 12 littis}

For the dough:

• Atta (whole wheat flour) – 1.5 cups (~150 grams)
• Salt – 1/3 teaspoon
• Oil* – 2 tablespoons
• Water for kneading

*This might look like a lot but I’d suggest not reducing it. We tried making littis with less oil in the dough – they turned out too hard and chewy.

For the filling:

• Sattu – 1 cup (~125 grams)
• Mustard oil – 3 tablepoons
• Ginger – 1-inch piece
• Garlic – 8 small cloves
• Green chilies – 2
• Coriander leaves – a few sprigs
• Carom seeds (ajwain) – 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt – to taste
• Water for moistening

For finishing:

• Ghee – 2 tablespoons

Equipment:

• Paddu maker/appe maker (buy on Amazon)

How To Make Litti in a Paddu Maker:

1. Knead the dough

Take 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour in a container for kneading. Make a well-like depression in the center and pour in 2 tablespoons of oil. Sprinkle 1/3 teaspoon of salt.

[The pictures show you dough that makes 12 littis + some extra for pooris for the next meal. What you see in the pics is 2 cups of flour + 3 tablespoons of oil + 1/2 teaspoon of salt.]

Knead the dough with the fingers, without adding any water at first.

When all the oil has mixed in, add water a little at a time, and knead…

…till you get a firm dough. The dough should be of the consistency used for making pooris: pliant, evenly mixed, non-sticky.

Pluck out balls of the dough, of the size you’d use for chapatis (about 1.5 inch diameter). In the pic below, 12 dough balls for 12 littis – and some more to be saved for later.

2. Make the sattu filling

Finely chop ginger, garlic, green chilies and coriander leaves.

Take a cup of sattu in a bowl. Add to it 3 tablespoons of mustard oil, finely chopped ginger, garlic, green chilies and coriander leaves, 1/2 teaspoon of carom seeds and salt to taste.

Knead to mix well. Sprinkle some water and knead again, to get a consistency like this:

Divide the sattu into 12 equal portions, ready to be stuffed into 12 dough balls.

3. Stuff and ball

Flatten a dough ball with your palms, making a little pit in its center. Spoon a portion of sattu into the dough receptacle. Press down, pinch and pull the dough from the sides and press the ends together and the top, shaping it into a ball.

Repeat to stuff the other 11 dough balls.

4. Into the paddu maker, on the fire

Pre-heat the empty paddu maker on low heat, for about 5 minutes.

When the paddu maker is hot, place the stuffed litti balls into the paddu maker fissures.

Continue to cook on low-medium heat, till the litti halves face down are toasted – you will know they are done when the shell becomes crusty and streaked golden-brown.

At this stage, nudge the littis out of their receptacles and flip them over.

Toast them on the other side too, till done.

Tilt the littis sideways as needed – you might have to do this for a few of the balls placed away from the heat. Keep an alert eye to make sure the littis don’t char.

You know the littis are ready when the surface is toasted all around and cracking in places.

5. Dip in ghee, serve with chokha

Dip hot littis in ghee before serving.

Accompaniment suggestions: baingan ka chokha, khajoor tamatar chutney, hara dhaniya chutney, achar.

In the pic below: littis with baingan tamatar chokha, aloo gobhi bhujiya.

Notes:

For more recipes from Bihar, visit Bihari recipe archives on The Steaming Pot.

To know more about paddus and other delicious snacktime food from Karnataka, read Bangalore Street Food (VV Puram).