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....