Podo Pitha

It bakes overnight and the crust is meant to come out burnt.

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

Ingredients

400 g rice, soaked 6 hours
150 g black gram, soaked 6 hours
200 g coconut, grated
250 g jaggery, grated
1 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ghee, for the pot

Method

IT BAKES OVERNIGHT AND THE CRUST IS MEANT TO COME OUT BURNT. Its article is unusually plain about all of it: made by SLOWLY BAKING fermented rice, black gram, grated coconut and jaggery OVERNIGHT, so that the crust is SLIGHTLY BURNT while the inside stays soft and white. A blackened outside is the finished state, not an accident, and the contrast with the pale middle is the dish. Pulled out at an hour when it looks golden, it is underdone.
THE BATTER IS GROUND WET AND FERMENTED FIRST. Soak the rice and the urad dal six hours, grind them together to a coarse batter, and leave it covered overnight to sour. This is where the lift comes from -- there is no raising agent in it.
THE JAGGERY GOES IN AFTER THE FERMENT, NOT BEFORE. Sugar in the batter slows the culture down. Beat it in once the batter has risen, with the coconut, the pepper and the salt.
THE POT IS HEAVY AND GREASED WELL. Earthenware or cast iron, rubbed all over with ghee. The crust sticks to anything thin and scorches through.
THE HEAT IS AS LOW AS THE OVEN GOES. A hundred and twenty degrees, six to eight hours, or overnight at a hundred. Anything brisker sets the outside before the middle has cooked and you get a burnt shell round raw batter.
IT IS NOT OPENED WHILE IT COOKS. Every look costs heat the oven then spends an hour getting back.
IT IS DONE WHEN A SKEWER COMES OUT CLEAN THROUGH A BLACK TOP. Those two things together. A clean skewer and a pale top means it needs longer; a black top and a wet skewer means the heat was too high.
IT IS COOLED IN THE POT AND CUT IN WEDGES. Hours, not minutes -- cut warm, it tears. Cold it slices cleanly and shows the white inside against the dark edge.

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.

Filed under India · All recipes