Pitha or Phara or Fara is a spicy dish made from rice flour and spice bengal gram, eaten generally for breakfast or snack with tea. This dish has its origin in Bangladesh and is a favorite cuisine in the North-eastern region of India. Learn how to make this dish with step by step photos, recipe video and detailed recipe given below:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 60 minutes
Recipe Yield: 4 servings
Keywords: Chawal Ka Pitha or Chana Dal Ka Pitha or Chaawal Ka Peetha or Chawal Ka Fara or Chawal Ka Phara or Chana Dal Ka Phara or Chana Dal Ka Fara or Chana Dal Ke Fare or Chawal Ke Phare
Ingredients:
- Rice (chawal) - 1.5 cup (big size)
- Bengal gram (chana dal) - 1 cup (big size)
- Ginger (adrak) - 1 tea spoon (chopped)
- Garlic (lehsun) - 3-4 petals
- Whole Red Chilli (khadi lal mirch) - 3-4
- Cumin Seeds (jeera) - 1 tea spoon
- Turmeric powder (haldi powder) - 1/2 tea spoon
- Black pepper powder (kali mirch powder) - 1/2 tea spoon
- Salt to taste
- Refined oil - 1 table spoon
- Water to grind the rice (chawal)
Preparation:
Rice flour preparation:
- Rinse and soak the rice (chawal) in a vessel for 2 hours prior preparation.
- Now strain off the excess water from the rice (chawal) and transfer it to the mixer grinder. Add a little water to grind the rice (chawal) to a fine paste.
- Add water to the ground rice (chawal) paste to form a smooth batter.
- Heat a kadhai on high flame and pour the rice batter into it.
- Grease a ladle with some refined oil and keep stirring the batter with it, as the batter is cooking. (Greasing the ladle with oil will not let the rice batter stick to it and form lumps).
- Cook for 1-2 minutes and as the water in the batter evaporates, the rice batter will start collecting together to form a big dough.
- Keep stirring till the batter is completely transformed into a dough.
- Turn off the flame and transfer the dough to a plate to cool while you prepare the bengal gram (chana dal) stuffing.
Bengal Gram (chana dal) stuffing preparation:
- Soak the bengal gram (chana dal) in water in a seperate vessel for 2 hours prior preparation.
- Strain off the water and transfer the soaked bengal gram (chana dal) to a mixer grinder and grind to a granular paste.
- Now in the smaller jar of the mixer put the cumin seeds (jeera), ginger (adrak), garlic (lehsun) and whole red chilli (khadi lal mirch). Grind the ingredients to a fine paste.
- Tranfer the paste to mixing vessel and add salt to taste, turmeric powder (haldi powder) and black pepper powder (kali mirch powder).
- Mix well and leave the mixture to rest for 4-5 minutes.
- Mix the granular paste of bengal gram (chana dal) with the paste of spices prepared in the previous step.
Pitha preparation:
- Grease your hands with some oil and mix the rice dough. (as if forming a dough)
- Prepare small balls of the dough and roll them into flat chapatis.
- With a spoon place some dal stuffing at the centre of the rice chapatis.
- Bring the sides together and press to bind the edges together to form a small semi-circular dumpling (as shown in the images below). Prepare raw pitha dumplings of the remaining chana dal stuffing and rice dough in similar manner.
- Now place the steamer on the gas. Fill the lower base with water till half level.
- Allow the water to boil. On the top container place the pitha dumplings prepared. Cover the steatmer with the lid and allow to cook for 15 minutes on medium flame.
- Remove the lid and poke the pitha prepared with a knife or fork. If it comes out clean then the pitha are cooked. (Cook for 2-3 minutes more if you feel the pitha is still uncooked in the core)
- Now transfer the pitha to beautiful serving dish and cut them into pieces.
- Serve hot with any chutney or pickle or curry.
Keywords: Chawal Ka Pitha or Chana Dal Ka Pitha or Chaawal Ka Peetha or Chawal Ka Fara or Chawal Ka Phara or Chana Dal Ka Phara or Chana Dal Ka Fara or Chana Dal Ke Fare or Chawal Ke Phare
Link to the video for Chawal Ka Pitha: Chawal Ka Pitha Recipe - Learn How To Make Chawal Ka Pitha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL37Rqoqceg