Oven-Baked Poda Pitha

Do you have a sweet tooth? Is desert a favorite part of your meal?

Do you want to end your meal in a satisfying way, but don't want any sugar intake in food. 

Then this recipe is for you!!

I am thankful to one of my Aunty for this recipe. It's an upgraded version of traditional grandma recipe "Poda Pitha", which I have prepared in my own way, but the taste is Mouth-watering. Oven-baked, jaggery flavored, ghee roasted dry-fruits topped Poda Pitha with grated coconut, paneer, groundnut fried stuffing. Do Give it a try!!

Ingredients :

• 1 Cup Rice 
• 1 Cup Urad Dal 
• 1 Cup Jaggery 
• 1 Coconut 
• 50gm granted paneer
• 10-15 groundnuts 
• Dates and raisins 
• 1 tsp Cardamom Powder 
• A pinch of salt and pepper powder 
• 2 tbsp ghee

Recipe Details :

✓ Soak rice and Urad Dal overnight in water. In the morning blend them well together to form a nice batter. Don't make the batter too watery.

✓ Grate half of the coconut. In a pan take 1/4 cup jaggery and cook until jaggery melts. Add the grated coconut, grated paneer, broken Cashew pieces and some broken groundnuts. Add a pinch of cardamom Powder, pepper powder. Keep stirring and frying in low flame untill it makes a good stuffing. Keep this stuffing aside.

✓ In another small bowl, take 1 tbsp ghee, melt it well. Add cut coconut pieces, Cashew and Almonds. Fry them until they become golden brown in color and transfer to a plate.

✓ In the same hot pan as above, take the remaining Jaggery and and cook until jaggery melts again. Add some cut pieces of coconut, dates and raisins to it. Mix it well.

✓ Add a pinch of salt to the mixture, and stir well. Cook until the jaggery forms a proper semi-liquid texture. Now add the previously prepared batter to it.

✓ Keep the heat low and combine everything well. Add the rest of the Cardamom Powder to this mixture and give a very good mix. Switch off the flame. No need to cook it as such.

✓ Meanwhile pre-heat the oven at 170°C. Take a cake tin, grease it with ghee.

✓ Add one layer of the batter mix onto the tin. On top of that add a layer of coconut stuffings prepared earlier and again another layer of the batter mix. The Stuffing will be placed in between 2 layers of batter mix.

✓ Top the mix with fried almond, cashew and coconut. Place the cake tin in oven and bake in convection till 30 mins.

✓ Check once with the use of toothpick if it's well cooked and take the cake tin out of oven.

✓ Let it be cool down. Cut into pieces and serve as a desert.😋😋

✓ Sugar can be used as a substitute of Jaggery here.