Pura Podapitha

Today is the first day of Raja(Pahili Raja) as i described in my previous post...and i am celebrating it with a dish of my fav from my Grandma's kitchen i.e; known as Pura Podapitha(Pura means stuffing )...U can  also see my earlier post for Podapitha..

Ingredients

1 cup rice
1 1/2 cup black gram - without outer skin (chopa-chhada biri)
1/2 cup milk or as needed
1 cup finely grated coconut (nadia kora)
1 cup crumbled paneer/chhena
(if u can get dahi chhena, the taste will b more good)
10-15 small pieces coconut (nadia khanda)
1 1/2 cup sugar (chini)/jaggery(guda)
3-4 green cardamom(crushed)
2 tsp of black pepper powder
ghee or refined oil
1/2 tsp  salt
1 tsp Baking soda
 

Method
 
Soak the rice and black gram in water in separate bowls for about 4-6 hours.

Wash them thoroughly and grind together by adding milk as needed to make a smooth  and thick batter..
Mix coconut pieces, salt 1/2 cup sugar/jaggery, crushed cardamom and baking soda to the batter and mix well.
Keep it covered for about 3-4 hours for self-fermentation.
Take grated coconut, crumbled paneer and 1 cup sugar/jaggery in a bowl and mix well.
Heat a kadai/pan and fry the above mixture by adding the black pepper powder  for 5-10 mins.
This will b used as the stuffing.

Pre-heat the microwave/pressure cooker.
Form a thin layer of oil/ghee in the surface of the cooker/baking disk.
Add a layer of the batter about 1-2 cm thick.
Spread a layer of the pura or stuffing over it.
Cover it with another layer of the batter about 1 cm thick.
Spread ghee over it.


For cooking in microwave, just bake it for 30-40 mins.

For cooking in the pressure cooker, cook it by closing the lid (without mounting the whistle-weight).
Place the pressure cooker in simmer flame for 40-50 mins.

Now poda pitha is ready.
When the pitha comes to normal temperature take it out  carefully, and cut it into desired shapes.
Serve  like this or with milk and ripe mango pieces, dalma, kheer or any other curry of ur choice.... enjoy..

Sending this perfect pitha to priya and aipi's bookmarked event.