Poda pittha

Last week I was extremely tied settling up our new place, lucky enough to have nestled in a cozy apartment and that too only five minutes drive from my son’s school. I am getting used to the new environment and new surroundings. It is exciting and at times a bit daunting to search for new shops that would to cater to our simple daily needs of vegetable and fruits.

I am quite used to traveling and setting up at a new place very frequently so this wasn’t new for me. I am quite glad that my son has started liking his new school and is well settled.

Last week before we moved I baked this traditional cake from Orissa, “Poda” means brunt and “Pitha” refers to cake. Basically the ingredients are not the usual plain flours but rice and lentils. Surprisingly this divine cake had never caught my attention until recently when my mom mentioned about it. My curiosity rose and it was a must on my baking list.

This cake is a unique combination of fiery pepper blended with aromatic cardamoms and crushed subtle ginger. Since this cake is always part of our festivals and offered to god, so it is absolutely vegetarian (free of eggs too).

In Indian cooking recipes have traditionally been handed down from one generation to another and is always modified according to one’s taste and generation and so as such no accurate measurements were ever recorded. This indeed helps to fire the imagination of every creative cook.

I love contemporary baking since it has accurate measurement and the success rate is higher if one follows the instructions well. I was rather confused when my mom shared her recipe and only place was my life saver Google. I found this recipe very similar and exactly the place it was meant to be at the this website “Hare Krsna”.

Ingredients

1 cup split Urad dal
1 cup Rice
1 cup brown sugar/jaggery
1 cup grated fresh coconut
1 teaspoon black pepper crushed
½ teaspoon cardamom powder
1 inch ginger crushed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ghee (clarified butter)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup raisins
5 to 6 pitted chopped dates

Handful of nuts (cashews, almonds, and pistachios)

Method

Soak rice and urad dal over night. Grind them to a coarse paste and set aside for 2 to 3 hours. Sieve sugar, baking powder, cardamom powder, pepper, ginger and salt. Add them to above mix.

Add coconut, raisins, date, and nuts and mix well. Grease a baking pan (22cm) with ghee and pour the batter. Preheat the oven at 180’C and bake for 30 to 40 minutes till done.

Remove and let it cool down. Slice and serve.

Note – Traditionally dates are not used but I have used them to make the cake moist. You can substitute sweetened shredded coconut if fresh coconut is not available.
If you are using the whole urad dal then reduce the quantity by half