723. Koat Pitha

 Land of the Dawn Lit Mountains

   As I had mentioned last month, The Shh Cooking Secretly group started by Priya Suresh of Priya's Versatile Recipes is traveling round India state by state. Not physical travel, but cuisine wise. For the month of October participating members had to come up with dishes that are popular in Arunachal Pradesh with the given secret ingredients.

   This state wise cooking is opening up a whole new world of cuisine for me. I'm learning new names of dishes, new ingredients and different cooking methods. Food in Arunachal Pradesh in general does not have much oil unless its a fried dish and they depend largely on ingredients grown or available locally. People of Arunachal Pradesh love their meat and bamboo shoot. Rice is a must with any meat or vegetable dish. Arunachal Pradesh is a state with 4 main regions and 26 major tribes and over 100 sub tribes. Dishes will vary according to the tribe and availability of ingredients.  Arunachal Pradesh is a north eastern state sharing its borders with Assam, Nagaland, Bhutan,China and Myanmar. Its known as the Orchid State of India. Arunachal Pradesh means 'The Land of the Dawn Lit Mountains' because of the beautiful mountains found in that state.

Some of the famous dishes from Arunachal Pradesh are:
Apong - fermented rice beer
Marua - fermented millet beer
Thupka - Noodle soup with vegetables and meat/fish
Rice- is always served with meat or vegetable dishes
Bamboo Shoot - its used practically in all the dishes
Pika Pila - a pickle made with bamboo shoot, pork fat and red chilis
Lutker - dry meat cooked with red chilis
Pehak - chutney made using fermented soya beans and chili
Momos - steamed dumplings stuffed with meat or vegetables
Chura Sabji - A curry made using fermented cheese made from yak or cow milk
Leafy Greens - usually served as side dish or added to stews and curries
Koat Pitha - mashed banana, rice flour and jaggery fritters
Dal and egg - lentil curry with whole eggs
Panch Phoron Tarkari - a mixture of vegetables with milk and dry spices added to it
Laksa Stock - boiled flaked noodles cooked in a spicy paste and garnished with cucumber, pineapple, onions and chilis.
Poora Mach - a whole fish wrapped in banana leaf and cooked over charcoal
Poora Haah - a whole roasted duck or chicken
Ngatok - a fish curry where the fish pieces are wrapped in banana leaves and cooked

   My partner for this month was Priya Mahesh. Her blog at200Deg has some interesting recipes and write ups on what's happening in Bangalore. She gave me rice flour and jaggery as my secret ingredients. So there's only one thing I could make with those ingredients and that is Koat Pitha. I don't regret making this delicious fried snack. It was so crunchy from the outside and soft inside, much like doughnuts. A couple of the fritters were left over and cold ones tasted just as good. However, I must admit I couldn't stop myself from adding a bit of cardamom powder. Just a few ingredients result in a delicious, sweet snack.

Go on check out the recipe and make it as a tea time snack.

image from Google

KOAT PITHA
Makes 10-12  fritters
Recipe source : Only Travel Guide

2 large or 3 medium ripe bananas
½ cup rice flour
3-4 tbsp grated jaggery (gur)
½ tsp cardamom powder
a pinch of salt
mustard oil or ghee for frying

1. Heat oil or ghee in a wok or Kara over medium to low heat.
2. Mash the bananas.
3. Add grated jaggery, salt and cardamom powder. Mix well.
4. Add rice flour and mix well to make a batter.
5. With the help of a spoon, drop batter into the hot oil.
6. Lower the heat and fry the pitha till its golden brown in color.
7. Remember to keep on turning the fritters while frying.
8. Remove them from the oil and keep them on a kitchen towel so that the extra oil can be absorbed.
9. Serve hot koat pitha with some tea.

Tips:

• I really don't like frying in mustard oil so I used ghee.
• The batter should be spoonable and not thin. 

You may want to check out cuisines from other states of India:

Litti Chokha - Bihar

Sheer Khurma - Uttar Pradesh

Amiri Khaman - Gujarat

Punugulu - Andhra Pradesh

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