How do I describe the motive that could pull my 70 year-old grandmother out of her bed on a bitter winter morning to prepare for the family? It was not obligation. It was pittha and the desire to do it all by herself. Soaking the chana dal, grinding it after hours, kneading the rice flour dough patiently without actually needing to think about measurements.
Over time, as I grew fond of pittha – steamed rice dumplings stuffed with spicy chana dal – making it became a bit of an assembly-line process. My mother handled the dough, the trickiest part; my sister stuffed the dumplings; I would pop them into the steamer, eyes glued to the lid, waiting for the final product.
I have eaten pittha or farra, as its called in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, for as long as I can remember. Across India, pittha appears in many forms – sweet and savoury, fried, steamed or boiled, changing with region and grain. While some make it with semolina or wheat flour, I have always preferred pittha made from rice flour.
Growing up, it was never my responsibility to make pittha. First my grandmother made it, then my mother and then my mother-in-law. Pittha simply appeared on a plate: steamy…
Source: Food Coma: Pittha – the rice and chana dal dumplings I learnt to cook as I thought of home
