Odia Recipes
Taste of Odisha
Taste of Odisha
Kakara is prepared in Odia homes especially on the occasion of festivals. It's a deep fried pancake extremely sweet in taste; because sugar is added both in the dough which serves as the outer covering, and also in the stuffing. The new generation of children might be deprived of the taste of traditional pithas of such kind; because the modern Odia homes are gradually moving away from the age-old food traditions of Odisha.
For dough (khali):
4-cups wheat flour (ata)
2-cups sugar (chini)
½ litre refined oil (rifaain tela)
For stuffing:
Grated coconut-1 cup (nadia kora)
½ - cup sugar (chini)
1 teaspoon aniseed (pana-madhuri)
1 teaspoon black pepper (gol maricha)
4 cloves small cardamom (chhota aleicha)
DOUGH: Add ½ cup water to ½ table-spoon wheat flour to make a paste. Heat 5 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar in a frying pan. Add the paste to the pan when the sugar solution becomes saturated and stir well. Make sure that no lump is formed while stirring. Leave the pan on the flame for 2 minutes for the mixture to boil. Now add rest of the flour to the mixture and lower the flame. Stir it properly. Now transfer the mixture from pan to a flat plate. Knead to make a smooth dough by adding 1 tablespoon of refined oil. The refined oil prevents formation of lumps.
STUFFING: Roast aniseed, black pepper and cardamom and then powder them. Fry grated coconut and sugar in a frying pan. Do not add oil. Add the powdered ingredients to it and stir. The stuffing is ready.
PITHA:
Make small balls of the dough. Flatten each ball and put the stuffing on it and again form a ball so that the stuffing remains at the center. Now flatten the balls to give it the shape of a kachori. Heat the oil in the pan and fry the flattened balls till it becomes golden brown. Your kakara pitha is ready to serve.
VARIATION:
A small variation in the above recipe may be made to prepare modak (also known as manda pitha in certain areas of Odisha). The difference lies only in the final shape of the pitha. At the end of the procedure, instead of flattening the balls to give them the shape of kachori, leave them in the shape of round shaped balls and fry as stated. Your modak / manda is ready.
You may also see a video of this recipe at the link below.
Contributed by
The culinary tradition of Odisha is centuries old. It is intertwined with the cultural identity of Odisha, and has evolved over a long period of time to acquire a uniqueness of its own. Odia foods are less spicy and less oily, making them one of the healthiest foods of India. The Mahaprasad served to the deities in the famous Jagannath temple of Puri represents the heritage of the food traditions of Odisha. Rice, pulses and seasonal vegetables serve as the basic ingredient of Odia foods. Besides, fish and sea foods also form a major part of the food preferences in Odisha.
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