One of the major festivals of Odisha is Makara Sankranti. This festival is observed In Jagannath temple, Puri with great fanfare and is known as Uttarayana Yatra and Uttarayan Vandapana of Lord Jagannath.
Various delicacies are prepared on this day as an offering to the Lord. During pooja, we prepare pithas – a sweet dish and offer it to the God /Goddess. One of them is the Suji Kakara the most famous pitha of Odisha. It can be prepared from suji as well as from atta.
I am sharing the Suji version of this pita.
INGREDIENTS
Suji (Rawa ) -150 gm
Shredded coconut 1/2 cup
Sugar -70 gm (according to your wish if you want less add less amount )
cardamoms – 4 pcs (make a fine powder)
Oil to fry
Salt – as per taste
To make the filling
1. In a frying pan, mix the shredded coconut, sugar and cardamom powder and then roast it for 10-15 minutes (filling).keep it aside. Cool it.
Method
2. In a kadhai take water (double the amount of suji). Add, sugar and salt(a little amount, as per the taste). Boil till it bubbles up.
3. To the boiling water now add suji and continuously stir it, to avoid any lump formation. Remove from flame and keep aside.
4. Cool the suji mix, and put a little oil to knead it into a smooth dough.
5. Make small balls from the dough, then roll out the balls into a small round shape and put coconut stuff (filling prepared earlier) in it. Now close the outer surface and make it into a ball again.
6. Note that there should not be any cracks in the balls otherwise the kakara will break while frying.
7. Take sufficient oil in a kadhai and deep fry the balls in a lower flame till it turns golden brown.
8. Kakara pitha is ready.
Tip
Make smooth balls and softly flatten them leaving no cracks otherwise, kakaras may break while frying.
Happy Sankranti, everyone!
PALLAVI PANDA
Makara Chaula
The offering of newly harvested rice on Sankranti is customary. Many recipes include such an offering. Keeping the essence of the festival in mind, freshly harvested grain is used in the preparation of this dish and this is a “no-cooking” recipe.
Ingredients
White raw Rice ( 1/2 cup ),
Milk ( 2 cups),
freshly grated coconut ( 4-5 tbs ),
small sugarcane pieces ( 1/3 cup ),
Ripe banana(1)
Powder Sugar 2 Spoon
pepper powder ( 1/4 tsp ),
Chenna/cottage cheese ( 1-2 tbs ),
Grated Ginger ( 1 tsp )
Pomegranate seeds
Recipe of Makara Chaula / Procedure for Makar Chaula (Oriya: ମକର ଚାଉଳ ) –
Soak the rice overnight. Wash and drain. Then spread it on a plate and allow it to dry at room temperature for at least a couple of hours.
Grind soaked rice, shredded coconut and milk into coarse liquid, but don’t make it a fine paste.
Transfer the coarsely ground rice into a bowl and mix all the other ingredients( except the banana)
Just before serving, peel and crush the banana.
It can be garnished with pomegranate seeds on top
It should be consumed within a day if kept outside the refrigerator. Or can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Happy Sankranti!
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