The summers have arrived and so have all our remedies prevent ourselves from getting a heatstroke. The summer in India is extremely brutal and we have all learned to cope with it in our own different ways. One important way to prevent ourselves from falling prey to the harsh conditions of the summer season is to eat right. Our parents and grandparents have time and again told us about what food should we eat and what we should avoid during the three- four months that summer is at its peak. One of the things that is highly recommended by people in Bihar and Jharkhand is sattu. Made from chickpea flour, sattu it's extremely cooling in nature and it is great to have in multiple forms during the summer season.
The most popular dishes that are made from sattu are litti-chokha and sattu ka paratha. But do you know that you can make sattu in three different ways that will help you beat the heat this summer? These are three very simple dishes and are foolproof against any kind of heat stroke.
Sattu ka Sharbat
The desi protein shake, sattu ka sharbat is a great drink to have during the summer season. It is a beverage that can be called an entire meal in itself. It not only fills you up it also saves you against the unbearable heat. All you have to do is add chilled water to sattu, then squeeze some lemon juice into it. add finely chopped onion and chili along with a little bit black salt and very little amount of sugar. Mix them all together and you have your delicious sattu ka sharbat ready. There is also a sweet version of it where you just add sattu, water and some jaggery.
Meethi Sattu
A dish that we have had for our breakfast multiple times, meethi sattu is often eaten in bihari as well as Bengali households. It is an extremely filling dish and not only keeps you cool but keeps you satiated for a really long time. It is also a simple three ingredient dish that takes 5 minutes to make. All you have to do is add some sathu, water and either sugar or jaggery in a bowl and make a runny, creamy paste. that is all it takes to make meethi sattu. although some people use jaggery, but the crunchy taste that sugar gives, brings back a lot of childhood memories for me personally.
Sattu ka Chokha
This is a dish that is not widely known outside of the states of Jharkhand and Bihar. This is a side dish that is mostly eaten with steamed rice. The key to making good sattu ka chokha is to add the correct amount of mustard oil into it. You take sattu in a bowl and add just the correct amount of water to make mashed potatoes like consistency. Then add in salt, a few drops of mustard oil and roughly chopped onions and green chillies. Eat this with your plain Dal chawal and make it into an amazing meal.
