Poda pitha
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A dense cake of fermented rice and urad batter with coconut and jaggery, slow-baked until its crust caramelises. The pitha of the Raja festival.
Region: OdishaOccasion: Raja Parba (mid-June)Time: 2 hours + soaking and fermentingServes: 8Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw rice
- ½ cup urad dal
- 1 cup grated jaggery
- 1 cup grated coconut, plus some coconut slices
- ½ tsp cardamom powder
- 1 tsp black pepper, crushed
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- A pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp ghee
- Banana or sal leaves to line the tin
Method
- Soak rice and urad dal for 6 hours, grind to a thick batter and ferment overnight.
- Melt the jaggery with a little water, strain and add to the batter with coconut, cardamom, pepper, ginger and salt.
- Heat the ghee in a heavy pan or line a cake tin with leaves and grease it.
- Pour in the batter and scatter coconut slices on top.
- Bake at 180°C for 1–1½ hours, or cook covered on very low heat with embers on the lid, until a deep brown crust forms.
- Cool completely before slicing.
History
Poda pitha means ‘burnt cake’. It was traditionally baked overnight in a pot buried in the embers of a wood fire.
Significance
During Raja, the three-day festival of the earth in mid-June, poda pitha is the dish every Odia home makes; by tradition it is also linked to Lord Jagannath’s return journey in the Rath Yatra.