Poda pitha is traditional delicacy from Odisha prepared from soaked rice and split urad dal and flavoured with crushed ginger, pepper and cardamom.“Poda” means brunt and “Pitha” refers to cake
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 vegetaria.
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”.
How to bake Poda Pitha from Odhisha
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup split Urad dal
- 1 cup Rice
- 1 cup brown sugar/jaggery
- 1 cup grated fresh coconut
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper crushed
- 3 to 4 cardamom pods crushed
- 1 inch ginger crushed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup raisins
- 5 to 6 pitted chopped dates soaked and pureed
- Handful of nuts (cashews, almonds, and pistachios)
- sliced coconut
Soak rice and urad dal over night. Grind them to a coarse paste using very little water and set aside for 3 to 4 hours. Don't let it ferment. Mix sugar, baking powder, cardamoms, pepper, ginger and salt. Add them to above mix.
Add coconut, ghee, raisins, pureed 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.
I have lately started using coconut sugar instead of our regular sugar, otherwise all the above ingredients remains the same. I have made this recipe many a times for different gatherings and groups and I have always seen people enjoying its unique flavour.
Now there is one more reason to feel proud too, seeing my mum and my mum in law having adapted my version of baking this pitha using pureed dates. I am sure this delicacies from our beautiful state Odisha will always remain coveted forever. There are few more delicacies like chenna poda, rassbali, rasgulla, chenna jhili have also topped the list too and definitely needs no introduction to my beautiful Odiya folks.
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Don’t forget to leave me comment if you have baked this recipe, would love to hear how it turned out.
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23 Comments
superb. looks delicious too..I am bookmarking this..hope to try it this weekend…
Btw, thanks for your mail about springform pan,…will look for it in Ikea..
that looks great!
This is interesting and I’ve seen nothing like it… Hope you get settled soon 🙂
Looks nice … sounds new to me
very similar to the gujarati handvo, which also incorporates veggies like bottlegourd. i love this concept.
Sounds wonderful what a great idea, will give this a try 🙂
Yummy: a savory cake! This looks divine and delicious, Pearls.
Just like a piece of cake, very new recipe 🙂 Beautiful presentation
Oh this looks awesome, mouth-watering. Very nice recipe, bookmark!!!!
This is new to me and sounds delicious…
How interesting! Will try it out for its uniqueness. I have seen nothing like this before. Will let you know when I make it.
Amazing….Its totally new to me…Did’nt know of this recipe before….looks yummy…very nice click
this is new to me.. i can try this out soon.
You moved again.
This cake is really new to me.
Looks so healthy and delicious
that is a real authentic cake….great presentation S.
You have been moving a lot…Wheww!!!
wow, fantastic cake! A complete different recipe for me. A must try.
This is a new one to me..Glad that you have settled in your new place..
its looking perfect too!
wow! delicious cake!
Hey glad to knw you have settled in your new place. Cake looks delicious and yummy…I would have never guessed it made from dal and chawal ..wow this is real new for me..and am so excited to make this. One thing..while grinding the dal, chawal..do we add water? If yes how much? I guess it should be minimal ?? Please guide. Thanks for the lovely recipe dear
Hi Shibani
I made poda pitha following your recipe.I also added pureed the dates to the batter. The final result was a soft and spongy cake like. The taste was good. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Regards
Suma
Thanks you Suma for trying out this recipe.I feel more enthusiastic to post Oriya recipes,
Great photos! Mouthwatering!