CHAKULI PITHA !! TRADITIONAL BREAKFAST RECIPE FROM ODIA CUISINE !!

 TRADITIONAL BREAKFAST RECIPE

FROM ODIA CUISINE

CHAKULI   PITHA

CHAKULI  PITHA is a rice - based snack recipe of Odisha. It is traditionally prepared using rice (arua), black gram (urad dal), mustard oil and salt with some water. Some people of Eastern Odisha use this pitha in festivals. I belong from an Odia family and chakuli with chutney is our daily breakfast. I don't know, how long this recipe has been going on. Even today I give it to my children in our breakfast. My grandparents used to eat this pitha with ghee gud (jaggery with ghee).

In Odia cuisine, It has many varieties of pithas. Chakuli Pitha is soft, thin pancake enjoyed with chutneys, aloo ki sabzi, ghuguni etc. The chakuli and khapara pitha are two varieties of pitha.

We make varieties of pitha using rice and black gram. In chakuli pitha we use less amount of urad dal, but if we use rice and urad dal in 2:1 proportion then we can prepare idli, dosa from it. Besides these there are many more traditional pithas we make from these two ingredients, like - Poda Pitha, Enduri Pitha and Patra Poda Pitha (pitha in leaves made in earthen pot) from Western Odisha etc. But it is fading now-a-days.

So, today we will learn to make 3 types of pitha -- chakuli pitha, khapara pitha and patra poda pitha.

INGREDIENTS FOR CHAKULI PITHA - 

Arua Rice     - 3 cups

Black Gram - 1/3  cup

Salt              -as per taste

Oil               - 1 tbsp

Water           - as required

INGREDIENTS FOR KHAPARA PITHA - 

Arua Rice     - 2 cups

Black  Gram - 1 cup

Salt               - as per taste

Oil                - 1/2 tbsp

Water            - as required

INGREDIENTS FOR PATRA PODA PITHA - 

Arua Rice     - 2 cups

Black Gram - 1 cup

Salt              - as per taste

Water           - as required

Shal Leaves - 10 to 15

FOR MASALA (patra poda pitha) - 

Cumin Seeds - 4 to 5 tbsp

Red Chili      - a handful (as your taste)

Ginger          - 50 gram

PROCESS FOR MAKING BATTER FOR CHAKULI PITHA - 

• Wash and soak rice and black gram in water for at least 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
• Then filter out the extra water and grind into a fine paste.

• Add salt and some water and make a smooth and thin batter. It doesn't need fermentation. 
• Our batter is ready.

PROCESS FOR MAKING CHAKULI PITHA - 

• Heat a pan on medium flame.

• Grease the pan with oil.

• Take a spoonful batter and spread it all over the pan in a circular shape.

• Cover with a lid for 2 seconds.

• Open the lid, your pitha is ready.

• Remove it and serve hot with tomato chutney.

PROCESS FOR MAKING KHAPARA PITHA - 

• In the same process,we grind the rice and black gram in to a fine paste.

• Keep aside the paste or batter for 6 to 7 hours or whole night for fermentation.

• Add salt and water to the paste for making the batter a little thin. Make sure that the batter doesn't get too watery.

• Take a khapara (earthen pot) and heat it.Or heat a tawa (frying pan) on medium flame.

• Spread a little oil on the tawa.

• Take a spoonful of batter and spread it in the middle of the tawa in a circular shape.

• Cover with a lid. Cook in medium flame.

• Check the pitha, if it is cooked well, then switch off the burner.

• Do not flip it, you can see the wholes on the top of the pitha, it means ,it is soft and well cooked.
• Serve hot with tomato chutney, dhaniya chutney or aloo ki sabzi.

PROCESS FOR MAKING BATTER FOR PATRA PODA PITHA - 

• Wash and soak rice and black gram in water for 4 to 5 hours.

• Than filter out the extra water and grind into a paste.

• Keep aside the paste for at least 6 to 7 hours or whole night for fermentation.

• Add salt and water to the paste for making the batter a little thin.

• Grind cumin seeds, red chilis and ginger to make the masala.

• Add the masala to the batter and mix well.Our batter is ready to make pitha

PROCESS FOR MAKING PATRA PODA PITHA - 

• Heat an earthen pot or a pan on medium flame.

• Place the shal leaves on the pot or pan.

• Take 2 to 3 spoonful batter and spread it all over the leaves in a circular shape.

• Cover it with some more leaves.

• Traditionally people spread some cinder (angar) on the leaves and cook for 25 to 30 minutes.

• But if you make it in the pan, then cover the pitha with a lid and cook for 15 minutes.

• Then flip the pitha and cook it from the another side. Cover it and cook for 10 minutes.

• After 25 minutes ,remove it from tawa and allow it to cool.

• Add some salt to the rest cumin masala.Mix it well.

• Serve the pitha with this masala or ghee gud (jaggery mix with ghee).

TIPS - If you want to make khapara pitha without fermentation and quickly then add 1 tsp baking soda to the batter and mix it well. Then make pitha as usually.

Friends, if you like this blog, then please FOLLOW and like this blog page. Please don't forget to comment in the comment section. Your one comment motivate me to write more recipes in the blog. So friends please comment for this traditional recipe.

Try to make this recipe and enjoy with your family. I am sure you must be remember your grandparents.

Wetting for your comments.

!! THANK YOU !!