UP Sattu Paratha Roasted Gram Stuffed Flatbread

Method

1. 1

   Make the dough: Combine wheat flour, oil and salt. Add water to form a soft, smooth dough. Knead 5 minutes. Rest 15 minutes.

2. 2

   Make the sattu filling: Combine sattu, finely minced onion, green chilli, grated ginger, raw mustard oil, ajwain, kalonji, red chilli powder and salt. Add lemon juice. Mix thoroughly with a spoon — not wet hands as sattu absorbs moisture. The filling should be crumbly-moist, holding together when pressed but not wet. Add 1 to 2 tsp water if too dry.

3. 3

   Divide dough into 8 balls.

4. 4

   Stuff: Flatten each ball. Place 2 tablespoons of sattu filling in the centre. Gather edges upward and seal firmly. Re-roll into a ball.

5. 5

   Roll gently: On a floured surface, roll each stuffed ball into a medium-thick paratha about 15 cm. The sattu filling is crumbly — roll gently without pressure or it breaks through.

6. 6

   Heat griddle: Heat a griddle on medium.

7. 7

   Cook first side: Place paratha. Cook 2 minutes until the surface turns dry.

8. 8

   Apply ghee: Apply 1 tsp ghee on top. Flip.

9. 9

   Cook second side: Apply ghee on the second side. Cook 2 minutes until golden.

10. 10

    Serve: Serve with yogurt, green chutney or raw onion and pickled green chilli.

11. 11

    Note: Sattu Paratha is the high-protein staple of eastern UP and Bihar — sattu (roasted gram flour) is the most important protein food of the Bhojpuri belt, eaten in many forms: as a drink with water and salt (a cooling summer beverage), as a paratha stuffing and as litti (the baked Bihari ball served with chokha). The raw mustard oil in the filling is the specific eastern UP-Bihar flavour — it adds a pungency that distinguishes this sattu paratha from versions made elsewhere without mustard oil.