Sattu, popular summer cooler

An Indian Protein Shake That’ll Leave You Sat(tu)isfied And Asking for More

Many years ago, taking morning walks at Kolkatta during a visit there, I chanced upon footpath dwellers consuming a yellow beverage. Enquiring about this from colleagues, I learned the people I had seen were probably migrants from Bihar, a state neighboring Bengal, and they were drinking Sattu, a popular drink from their home state. 

After that, in 2015, on a trip to Gulabbagh in east Bihar, I witnessed the making of the drink and tasted it. This article is a story about Sattu, an ancient food that people refer to as ”Indian Horlicks’’ but more than that. 

Sattu (flour) is made of roasted chickpeas (Bengal gram) which traditionally people roasted on sand (like peanuts roasted by Indian street hawkers). On completion of the roasting, the makers sieve the sand and separate fine ground chickpeas powder or SATTU. After that, you can use Sattu in many ways, one of which is as a drink, either sweet or salty. 

At the Sattu stall at Gulabbagh where I first drank it, we first had to tell the shopkeeper the quantity of Sattu flour we would like (typically stalls sell 100 gm. of it and what I had cost INR 15 per 100 gm.) him to add to our drink. The shopkeeper, after that, weighed out the quantity of Sattu we ordered on his scale and emptied it into a steel tumbler. He then added salt, a spice mixture (something like Chaat Masala) to the sattu and made the mixture homogenous by vigorously shaking it and readying it for us to consume. 

This simple drink made of chickpeas, a principal source of protein for Indian vegetarians, is probably the simplest protein shake invented by humans anywhere. It has a mild roasted flavor from the making process, and the salt and the spice garnish make it more palatable as, by itself, it is likely to be bland and unappealing to the palate. 

A 100 gm. drink of Sattu is filling and can keep one going for several hours and which I why I guess the people who do manual labor at Bihar depend on this filling and nutritious drink. Sattu is a favorite in the north-eastern state of Bihar, and people use it extensively in cooking. I had the chance to eat Sattu Parathas, made with a stuffing of Sattu flour, at breakfast during my stay at Patna during my trip in 2015.

Also, littis, which are balls of dough fried (sometimes roasted too over hot coals) with a filling of Sattu, are a popular breakfast snack and anytime snack, accompanied by Chokha, a dish made of brinjals, tomatoes, and potatoes. For example, at the Maa Durga Snacks Corner near Hiranandani Meadows, you can get Litti Chokha with the stall owners serving the larger littis by stuffing it with Sattu.

It seems the people of Bihar can never be ‘’sat(tu)isfied’’ enough with their favorite food - Sattu. At Bihar, it is consumed at breakfast, lunch, and dinner in many different forms and must rank as one of the most consumed foods during all meals in a day. Sattu is also common and consumed in the northwestern state of Punjab, where people make it by mixing gram flour with barley and other cereal flour. Sattu is also popular in UP, Uttaranchal, MP, and Bengal. 

Some years ago, preparing to run for a marathon, I was looking for a source of protein. At the Eden supermarket in Rustomjee Urbania, I found Jabsons Sattu packs with just the plain chickpea variant, another one spiced and a third one having barley, available in 250 gm. packs. When you use Jabsons Sattu, you get a powder ready for you to dilute with water and drink.

With the increasing popularity of Sattu, several brands have launched their products with this high protein flour. However, compared to branded protein shakes with numerous ingredients, including preservatives, colors, and flavoring agents, Sattu is made of just one ingredient – chickpeas. 

Sattu drink is very easy to make, requiring just adding water and garnishing it with salt, lemon, and spices to make it easier to consume. This humble drink deserves approbation for being around for centuries to help people access an inexpensive source of protein. As there is no cooking involved in making it, the Sattu drink retains the nutrients and is thus easy to use. It is very rich in protein (20%), high in fiber, and contains iron, magnesium, and manganese, apart from being low in sodium. It is an ideal food for people with diabetes, too, having a very low glycaemic index.

As the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a hot summer in 2022, you can plan to stock Sattu at home to keep you cool and healthy from March to May this year. An ex-colleague of mine from Bihar told me that the Sattu she had in summers kept her energetic through the morning. She always brought Sattu from her hometown Samasthipur and used it each summer at Thane.

You also have the option of making Sattu at home by dry roasting gram (yellow channa) and grinding it for a fine powder. However, the traditional Sattu process of dry roasting over sand imparts a unique flavor to the product that you may not be able to replicate at home. Preparing a Sattu drink at home is easy when you have the powder, as you only need to mix the powder with water and garnish it with salt and lemon. 

As Sattu does not easily mix with water, you must add little water to it to make a paste first, after which you can dilute it with water. Consuming Sattu soon after making it is better as the powder tends to settle at the bottom when you store it. Moreover, using cold water to make Sattu more pleasant to consume.

Considering all the amazing health benefits, Indians should forsake branded protein shakes and fortified energy drinks – and use Sattu as an equivalent product in terms of nutrition, affordability, and ease of being used – does not exist!