Raja Mum’s Way
Its 5 o’clock and I am literally dragged out of the bed. Half dazed and have to get fresh. Getting smeared with fresh yellow turmeric at that hour I can only think of my collars. Carefully my mum makes floral motifs on my forehead with a matchstick smeared in sandalwood paste. While the last step to my adornment is the red Alta or dye applied to my feet with the help of a ear bud. Changing in and out of my new dress is as awift as light. All this glory lasts for less than ten minutes. Every action has microsecond precision.
Then just like that after she had done her Pooja (for which I was a mere spectator) I would slip into my school uniform at lightening speed. The motifs carefully wiped off and the Alta red feet carefully hidden under my white socks and black shoes. She would give me a glass of milk and her early morning bake of Podo pitha. While I stuffed my mouth, Mum packed my tiffin. We had a lovely mango tree in the corner of our backyard where dad would have set up a swing hanging from a branch. The swing would be ready by the time I was ready for school. With a swift wave of dizziness, giggles and songs I would jump from the swing to my cycle seat.
I would be saying bye to mum and dad as I rode away to school. The festival of Raja in its grandeur would be wrapped up and the rest to follow while i got back from school.
Traditions Turning a new leaf
Sometimes we have a tradition that, despite the complexity of the task you do it so frequently that it becomes a second nature. There are rituals to it and set ways of doing things and recipes to follow. But with a rationale and the right amount of balance you could bring the fraction of experience for your kids and family.
With a similar commitment which is again a derived fraction of my expat life. I have baked this version of a Stuffed Podo Pitha. The recipe is on the blog and hope you enjoy it.
Stuffed Podo Pitha
Raja is celebration of fertility and womanhood in the state of Odisha. I would continue writing on the blog about it. Today we are going to make stuffed Podo Pitha. I also have more remarkable Odia recipes like Kakera Pitha
- For the stuffing
- 1/2 coconut, grated
- 1/2 jaggery
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- For the dessert
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup jaggery
- coconut chunks
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp almond flour
- 2 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
- Raisins and cashews
- salt to taste
- A non stick pan
- A 6 inch cake tin or a steel pan
- A deep bottomed vessel
- A steel plate to cover
- Heat the pan and melt the jaggery and then mix the grated coconut until properly fried for 4-5 minutes. Then sprinkle cardamom powder snd allow it to cool.
- Now for the dessert we have to prepare the Jantha or the batter. In a clean non stick pan add 1 tbsp of ghee and then add your water. The key rule for the batter is the volume of water should be same as the rice flour. There is a 1:1 ratio.
- To the water now start adding the fennel seeds, grated ginger, salt, bay leaves and jaggery. Allow this mic to boil for 8-10 minutes and you can feel the aroma engulf the house. Now to this gradually add the rice flour with a spoon and use a rubber spatula to mix it. Ensure that there are no lumps in the mixture.
- In the final step add your raisins, cashews and almond powder and give it a good mix. The batter has a thick non flowing consistency and is quite dense. At this stage prepare your cake tin by smearing ghee generously on all sides.
- Now take half of the batter and add it to the prepared cake tin. At this stage be careful as the batter is still hot. Now use some cold water and press it hard and flatten out the batter with no rough edges.
- Now spread the coconut and jagger stuffing over the first layer of batter. Ensure that its spread evenly. Then add the remaining batter on top of the stuffing and just like the previous step flatten it out with wet fingers to resemble a well formed cake. You can garnish it with grated coconut and cashews.
- Now add some ghee on top to allow the pitha to be charred and cooked well on the top as well. Now add banana leaf on the top layer to ensure heat insulation. You could also line your cake tin with banana leaves.
- Traditionally the batter is wrapped in banana leaves and placed over a charcoal stove and live charcoal is also placed on top. The charred is ensured from the heat coming from the charcoal.
- Since in modern households we do not have charcoal stove we will use the traditional gas to make our Podo Pitha.
- Now take a deep bottomed vessel and pre-heat to medium heat. Now place your prepared cake tin inside the deep bottommed vessel and cover it with a plate on top. Now cook on low-to-medium heat for 1 hour. Do not remove the plate during this time.
- After one hour allow the vessel to cool down before removing the plate. and checking on the prepared podo pitha. Then overturn the pitha on a plate and it is ready to be eaten.
- When you cut the slices you will notice it has a beautiful layer of coconut and jaggery in between the layers. The texture of the pitha is traditionally slightly on the harder side and is charred on the outside.
