A thick wheat paratha stuffed with a spiced roasted gram flour (sattu) filling — a preparation shared between the Purvanchal area of eastern UP and Bihar, providing a high-protein, quick-to-make flatbread that is particularly popular among daily wage workers and travellers.
Ingredients
For the dough: 2 cups wheat flour, 1 tbsp oil, salt, water — soft dough
For the sattu filling:
1 cup sattu (roasted gram flour — available at Indian grocery stores)
1 onion — finely minced
2 green chilli — finely minced
1 tbsp ginger — finely grated
1 tbsp raw mustard oil (characteristic flavour)
1 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
1/2 tsp red chilli powder, 1/4 tsp kalonji (nigella seeds), salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
ghee for cooking
Method
Make the dough: Combine wheat flour, oil and salt. Add water to form a soft, smooth dough. Knead 5 minutes. Rest 15 minutes.
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.
Divide dough into 8 balls.
Stuff: Flatten each ball. Place 2 tablespoons of sattu filling in the centre. Gather edges upward and seal firmly. Re-roll into a ball.
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.
Heat griddle: Heat a griddle on medium.
Cook first side: Place paratha. Cook 2 minutes until the surface turns dry.
Apply ghee: Apply 1 tsp ghee on top. Flip.
Cook second side: Apply ghee on the second side. Cook 2 minutes until golden.
Serve: Serve with yogurt, green chutney or raw onion and pickled green chilli.
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.