This is a traditional pitha of Odisha which is made during different local festivals like Laxmi puja(Manabasa Gurubar) and Occasions. This authentic pitha is still not known to many Odia and its limited to certain parts of Odisha.
This is a easy pitha but involves little skills. So this video is a initiative to popularize this pitha.
It has a outer crepe which has paper like texture and stuffed with jaggery & grated coconut stuffing.
The outer layer is made with rice flour batter which is thin (transparent) enough that stuffing gets visible.
Thanks to Ritu Pattnaik Apa for sharing some interesting facts about this delicacy. When there was no ladle, doob grass (Cynodon dactylon) was used for making this pitha by making a brush like structure which was used to sprinkle the rice batter in the pan. She shared this pitha used to be called as chincha patra pitha beacuse of the process (Odia: Chincha means sprinkle & Patra: Leaf) which latter changed to chunchi patra may be because of, use of doob grass which looks like a needle (Odia: Chunchi pata means needle leaf).
These days hardly anyone use this doob grass technique rather its replaced by using a cotton cloth for making this dish.
PS: The process of making can be related to Pootharekulu (plural) or poothareku (singular)which is a popular Indian sweet from the Andhra Pradesh.
By Avinash Patnaik
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