Sunday, June 14, 2009

Happy Raja with Poda Pitha


Raja is a 3 day celebration in Orissa that starts on the first day of 'Asara' month. It welcomes the rains to Orissa and usually marks the start of the agriculture season. It is a special occasion for young girls. Girls get to wear new dresses and are usually not allowed to do any house work at home. It is the festival for girls to play on the swings and enjoy good food and spend time with friends and family. The usual high-light of this festival is 'Poda Pitha', which basically means baked cake. In the days before ovens in Oriya households, moms would put the pitha in earthen vessel on top of the dying wooden embers in the night and the dish would be baked nicely by the next day morning. This poda pitha is usually served with chicken curry or mansa tarkari.

I made 2 kinds of poda pitha and will share it here with you. Both are really easy to make. The sweet one is more common.

Savoury Poda Pitha

Ingredients
1 cup of Urad Dal
1 cup of Rice

1/4 cup of cabbage cut into thin slices
1 small onion sliced into thin slices
1 small tomato cut into small pieces
a bunch of coriander leaves
Salt to taste
4-5 tablespoon of oil

How to

Soak and grind the urad dal and rice for few hours. Grind the urad dal and rice coarsely and leave aside for few hours or overnight. (If you do not have enough time for it to ferment, add 1/2 tea spoon of baking powder and leave aside for an hour).
Add the chopped vegetables and salt and mix well.
Take a baking tray, line with aluminium foil. Spray oil on the foil generously, including the sides.
Bake in a preheated over for 1 hour at 350 F.
After 1 hour, peak into the oven and you should see the sides nicely browned. If not bake for another 15-20 more minutes.
Take the cake out of the oven, flip it over and cook again for 1 hour on the other side.
Once done, both sides should look nice and golden....

Serve warm with Chicken curry. The pitha is crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside.



Sweet Poda Pitha

Ingredients


1/2 cup of Urad Dal
1/2 cup of Rice
1/2 cup of fresh home made paneer
1/2 cup of fresh shredded coconut
4 table spoon of sugar (this is not as sweet as a typical sweet dish)
handful of raisins
2 tablespoon of ghee
1 freshly ground cardamom


How to

Soak and grind the urad dal and rice for few hours. Grind the urad dal and rice coarsely and leave aside for few hours or overnight. (If you do not have enough time for it to ferment, add 1/2 tea spoon of baking powder and leave aside for an hour).
Mix the paneer, coconut, sugar and ghee well.
Add the raisins and ground cardamom powder and mix again.

Take a baking tray, line with aluminium foil. Spray oil on the foil generously, including the sides.
Bake in a preheated over for 45 minutes at 350 F.
After 45 minutes, peak into the oven and you should see the sides nicely browned. If not bake for another 15-20 more minutes.
Take the cake out of the oven, flip it over and cook again for 1/2 hour on the other side.
Once done, both sides should look nice and golden....

I had my sweet poda pitha as breakfast today with some grapes. Hope you will try this sweet dish and enjoy the monsoons....

48 comments:

  1. woow, this looks great..the oven fresh poda pitha looks extremely tempting!!

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  2. that looks so much like pizza .. very very new to me

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  3. That looks like a piece of cake..never heard of this....very new to me.....

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  4. Wow this is new to me, thanks for sharing the info, looks great

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  5. Rush - I am glad you liked it
    Deesha - that picture looks just like a pizza. It doesn't taste like one though...
    Pratibha - Yep oriya cake - its amazing how the earlier generation was so innovative...
    Parita - thanks. It is an age old tradition...

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  6. Good details about the celebrations.. ... the recipe also is very new ... looks great ... thanks for sharing :)

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  7. very very new to me but little similar like our dibbarotti but dibbarotti is not a baked one looks so delicious and nicely baked with nice color looks yum yum like the sweet version.

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  8. Wow..great recipe..i am going to try the first one ,sounds great..bookmarking these recipes,thanx for sharing, Lucky girls and poor boys...

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  9. Oh wow that festival sounds gr8!......recipes look awesome...drool worthy yaar....

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  10. nice to know abt the festival ...nice recipe

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  11. Wow looks outstanding and droolworthy dishes...nice recipe!

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  12. Happy to know about the festival! Wow now am learning more n more authentic Oriya dishes from you :) This one looks so delicious. I'm more attracted to the sweet one coz of my sweet tooth..hehe!

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  13. Wow Awesome! looks so tempting. Festival sounds so fun and fantastic.

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  14. So nice to learn about this traditional dish from you - sounds so delicious.

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  15. Wow new and interesting recipe.Looks delicious.

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  16. This is totally new-what an interesting dish. I'm sure it'll be great with chicken curry :)

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  17. New and interesting recipe. Looks like a perfectly done pizza.

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  18. wow! this looks cool n the recipe rocks! good one somoo!

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  19. Raja is new to me and the recipe as well,looks like a pizza

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  20. Interesting and different name. Looking good and different recipe

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  21. now just need to wait for the rains which are really late in Mumbai. Asar is the bengali word for Monsoon too I think

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  22. Thanks friends. I couln't find a link to a decent post on wiki to link to Raja festival. So this is all that my Mom could give background on.
    I love the sweet one too....

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  23. Wow i have never heard of these....sounds sooooo good.Must try dish:)

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  24. Regarding ur query for TOfu,I used normal firm Tofu for the paratha dear...

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  25. its nice that everytime u also have a new thing to tell us abt Orissa along with ur dish.I loved the 2 types of pitha.I might try the savoury one..but do we really need to bake for 2 hrs?

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  26. Looks very soft and yummy!!! Sweet and hot version am so indulged!!!

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  27. MunchCrunch - I bakes at 350 and it took about 2 hr and 15 min. I am sure at a higher temperature, it will go faster...
    Ramya - I am glad u liked it...
    Chitra - thanks.
    Nitya - sure please try....

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  28. At first I tot its pizza ;)...looks just fab....yumm...but I guess the baking time its bit longer :(

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  29. Grand Idea! This dish look so :Delicious.

    Thanks for sharing your recipe:)

    Welcome~~~
    http://foodcreate.com

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  30. Nice write up dear. Love that festival which honors the feelings of women. Raja seems to be a great function. I m sure ladies would have enjoyed the day after cooking the next day's pitha overnight ...nice concept. Earthenware baking is unimaginably lovely.
    Nice pictures. I will bake it soon...tempting.

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  31. That looks so good HCOF..something like scones..:)

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  32. somoo, pls vsit my blog to pick ur award

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  33. This is such a creative recipe! I'm eager to try this!

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  34. Thanks for the lil piece of Info. This recipe is new to me. They look awesome n I am sure that it would have tasted great.

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  35. somoo that's an awesome recipe......loved it!!!

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  36. Thanks friends. I am happy to share an Oriya recipe that everyone enjoyed...

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  37. Both your poda pithas are different from what I have been used to having. I like your versions and am going to try the sweet one. :-)

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  38. Sharmila - how do you make it ?
    I like the sweet version too...

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  39. Somoo ... it is posted here http://kichukhonn.blogspot.com/2008/08/pora-pithe-poda-pitha.html
    Our cook used to make it very often. :-)
    Raja already gone? Ratha yatra next. :-)

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  40. Its great to know about festivals celebrated in orissa and the Poda pitha looks so crispy and yummy.

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  41. Sharmila - yes Ratha Yatra on Wednesday...
    I loved your poda pitha too...
    Sukanya - thanks. I am glad you liked it...

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  42. I was born and brought up in Athgarh orissa and trying out Oriya recipes for my wife and daughters. PoDo Pitha has lot of nostalgic memory, as usual.
    I was looking for a PoDo Pitha recipe and got this one. Can you please check and confirm if the oven temp is 350 deg C or 350 deg F? My oven can go up to 220 deg C maximum.
    I am going to try it in a day or two (the sweet one)
    regards

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  43. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  44. Hey,

    Thats a great idea... BUT .. try cooking it in a pressure cooker. THAT WORKS PERFECTLY.. and you will SAVE TIME.

    HEat the pressure cooker till its totally HOT.. and then put some oil. Add the cardomoms, cloves, whole black pepper. Add the urad dal+rice paste to it..and then put the cashewnuts and ... rest of them.

    Put the lid and simmer the cooker ... it shud be resting on very less heat. Remove the weight of the lid. You can then check the poda pitha .. once in a while.. until its cooked properly.

    It wont take much long... 25-30 mins. AND its DONE.

    Let the pressure cooker cool down itself..and then you may remove the poda pitha after cutting it inside the cooker.

    Have a great day.

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