Kakara Pitha

Wheat flour rather than rice, and a pinch of edible camphor in the filling.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (chhena), dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 300 g wheat flour
• 250 g sugar
• half a coconut, grated
• 100 g chhena
• 4 cardamom pods, seeds ground
• a pinch of edible camphor
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• oil or ghee for deep frying

Method

1. WHEAT FLOUR RATHER THAN RICE, AND A PINCH OF EDIBLE CAMPHOR IN THE FILLING. Its article gives a weighed ingredient list and those two entries are what set it apart from everything else here: 300 g of ATTA, not rice flour, and edible camphor, a pinch. Wheat makes a dough that can be rolled and sealed and that fries crisp rather than puffing. The camphor is the other half -- a cold, medicinal, faintly pine note that is unmistakable and very easy to overdo.
2. A PINCH MEANS A PINCH. Edible camphor is sold as crystals and a quarter of a teaspoon would make the whole batch taste of ointment. Crush a crystal the size of a grain of rice into the warm filling.
3. THE SUGAR IS IN THE FILLING, NOT THE DOUGH. Its list gives 250 g against 300 g of flour, which is far too much for a pastry and right for a filling shared across eight pieces.
4. THE FILLING IS COOKED AND COOLED BEFORE IT IS WRAPPED. Coconut, chhena, sugar, cardamom, pepper and the camphor in a dry pan until the sugar melts and it comes together, then left to go cold. Warm filling steams inside the dough and splits it in the oil.
5. THE DOUGH IS STIFF AND RESTED. Flour, salt and enough warm water to make a firm dough, kneaded well and rested twenty minutes. A soft dough tears as you fill it.
6. THEY ARE SEALED LIKE A TURNOVER AND PRESSED SHUT. Rolled into a disc, filling in the middle, folded over and the edge pressed and crimped. Any gap and the filling leaks and burns in the fat.
7. THE FAT IS AT A MODERATE HEAT, NOT A FIERCE ONE. Around a hundred and sixty degrees. Hot oil colours the wheat crust before the inside has heated through.
8. ITS ARTICLE SAYS THEY ARE SERVED HOT OR COLD, AND BOTH ARE DIFFERENT. Hot, the filling is molten and the crust crackles; cold, it firms up and the camphor comes forward.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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