Arisha Pitha
Cuisine: Oriya
Ingredients
The ingredients are only three. But there were too many information about the ratio of ingredients.
- 8 2 cups Rice
- 8 2 Cups Jaggery (Sugar doesn't give the true flavour of Arisha)
- 8 1 cup Water
- 8 Oil/ Ghee to fry ( approx 2 cups)
Method
- Wash and soak rice for 3-4 hrs, drain and air dry on a cloth or paper to remove adhered moisture.
- Grind the rice in a grinder. The powder should not be too fine.
- Crush Jaggery lump to small chunks and major 2 cups.
- Take a thick bottom Kadai , add water 1 cup and the jagery, slowly heat to make a solution.
- Start boiling the solution to foaming. Feel the stickiness without burning finger.
- Start adding Rice flour to the mix slowly and stir continuously.
- Continue stirring as the mix thickens. This a tricky step. I didn't know when to stop. It remains quite fluid as it is very hot. Last time when the dough was formed it became a hard mass after cooling and could not do any thing further). So at the end I started taking out small portion and cooled fast to see if it remained a dough fit for shaping.
- The dough would stop sticking, switch off burner and allow to cool.
- Make round shapes like puri about 7 to 8 mm thick ( even thicker) and 3 to 4 inch in diameter. You may sprinkle rashi ( sesame ) to give a nice aroma, which goes well with Jaggery.
- Shaped Arisha ready for frying
- Heat Ghee or oil in a Kadhai, thick bottom. Fry the Pitha both sides under very low heat. It will turn dark brown because of Jaggery.
— Samanwaya Nanda from Bhuwaneshwar
