Dhal Pitha - Jharkhand Cuisine

After visiting Jammu and Kashmir,today we are going to Jharkhand,eastern state carved out of south  Bihar in 2000.

Coming to the cuisine its almost similar to Bihar and most of dishes popular in Bihar is also popular in Jharkhand.Traditional jharkhand is equally vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian.In general the food cooked in Jharkhand is considerd to be very light and easy to digest.

Today's recipe is one such simple recipe which resembles the South Indian Purana Kozhukattai with a savory stuffing with bengal gram dhal(channa dhal).

Pitha is served mostly for dinner or breakfast along with some chutney,I adapted the recipe from here and made it according to my family taste.Isauted the ground channa dhal mixture for couple of minutes and added some grated coconut for extra taste.Now off to the recipe..........................................

Basic Information

Soaking time ~ 2 hrs
Preparation time ~ 10 minutes
Cooking time ~ 20-25 minutes
Makes ~ 15-18

For the stuffing

Ingredient	Quantity
Bengal gram/channa dhal/ kadala paruppu	1/2 cup
Green chilly/pachamilagai	2
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1/2 tsp
Salt	1/2tsp
Oil	2 tsp + 1tsp
Coconut(grated)	1 tbs(optional)

For the Outer Covering

Ingredient	Quantity
Rice flour/arisi maavu	1 cup
Salt	1/2 tsp
Boiling water	11/2-13/4 cups

Method

Soak the channa dhal in warm water for 2 hours and grind it to a coarse paste along with green chilly,cumin seeds and salt.
Heat a pan with oil and add in the ground paste,saute it for 2 -3 minutes.Make sure it won't become very dry.Put off the flame and add the grated coconut,mix it well.The stuffing for the pitha is ready.

Now take the rice flour in a bowl,add in salt and mix it well.Now to this add the boiling water and mix well \to form a thick,soft dough.
Grease the palm with oil and take a small lemon size ball,flatten it to a disc,keep a spoonful of stuffing and close the edges by pressing.

Arrange it in a idly plate and steam it for 10-12 mins or till a tooth pick comes out clean.

Serve it warm with coriander or mint chutney.

Enjoy........................................................................

• The amount of water for the dough varies depending on the quality of the rice flour.
• In the original recipe the ground channa dhal is not sauteed.
• Addition of coconut is purely optional.
• Do not add more green chilly,I feel 2 is more than enough.

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