Odia Poda Pitha

Odia Poda Pitha is a popular pitha recipe in Odisha. It’s mainly a festival dish cook on the occasion of Raja Sankranti.

Raja Sankranti ( or Swing festival) or “Mithuna Sankranti” is the first day of the month of ‘Asadha’ from which the season of rains starts. It predicts the start of the rains which brings joy to the farmers. The first day is called “Pahili Raja” , second is ” Raja Sankranti and third is “Basi Raja or Basumati Snana . It is more popularly celebrated in the Coastal districts of Orissa

Ingredients:

400gm Rice
150gm black gram – without outer skin
1 cup finely scrubbed coconut
10-15 small pieces of thin coconut slices
200gm sugar / jaggery
50gm chopped ginger
½ bowl of cashew nut – broken into pieces
1 table spoon ghee or refined oil
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method:
Soak the rice and black gram in water in separate bowls for about 4 hours.
Wash them thoroughly.
Put the black gram with water in the grinder and form a fine batter.
Do the same with rice too but keep in mind that the batter should be coarse and not as fine as the batter of black gram.
Mix both the batters and add coconut slices, grated coconut, chopped ginger, salt, sugar, cashew nuts and baking powder.
Mix all the ingredients well and keep it covered for about 2 hours for self-fermentation. Pre-heat the pressure cooker.
Form a thin layer of oil on all the inner surface of the cooker.
Now pour the mixed batter into the cooker and close the lid (without mounting the whistle-weight).
Place the pressure cooker in simmer flame for about one hour.
Now your hot poda pitha is ready.
When the cooker comes to normal temperature take out the pitha carefully, and cut it into desired shapes and serve.