The Food Diary~~ -Rasabali

And the three day long Odia festival, Raja(pronounced raw-jaw) parba is here. It's that time of the year when we celebrate Womanhood, the rains and the renewal of life with great pomp and pleasure. Various soul- treating Odia cuisines(mostly pitha of many types) and sweets(meetha) are made, enjoyed and happily relished with families and friends.

After all food is the universal language of love that connects every heart all over the world. No celebration or festival can be complete without some traditional delectable dishes. 

This year our lil' Vyom is gonna observe his first Raja parba. Anything first demands to be super special. To make it lifelong memorable, "meetha to banta hai boss". So there is this famous  RASABALI in the frame.

RASABALI is a popular sweet dish from Kendrapara, Odisha. One of the Chhappan Bhog of Jagannath Temple, Puri. It consists of deep fried flattened reddish brown patties of chhena that are soaked in thickened sweetened milk(rabri). The rabri is usually flavoured with crushed cardamoms.

These age old traditions and customs of my home state practised till date do give an impression of indigenous Odia culture that should be passed on to generation after generation.

A very happy 'n' hearty Raja to all my dear friends. Have fun and do enjoy but don't forget to follow all the safety protocols out there.

Process of Homemade Rasabali :

1. To begin with, boil 2 litres of milk in a deep container and add lemon juice or vinegar slowly. Reduce the flame and allow the milk to curdle, once done, switch off the flame.

2. Strain chhena in a muslin cloth or in a strainer. Give it a cold bath to get rid of lemon smell and taste and leave it for 15-20 minutes to drain out the excess water.

3. In the meantime, start boiling the leftover one litre milk. Add jaggery powder and allow it to reduce to almost half of the original quantity. Flavour it with cardamom powder and mix. Then remove it from the heat.

4. In a mixing bowl, add chhena, 1tbp semolina, 2tbpswheat flour, 4tbsp jaggery powder and knead it smoothly for 5 minutes. Divide the dough into equal sized balls and flatten each ball on your palm forming round tikkis. In the process keep your palm greased with oil/ghee. Heat oil/ghee in a kadhai and fry the tikkis at medium flame. Add the fried tikkis into hot thickened milk(rabri). Allow them to cook just for five minutes not more than that on low flame and put off the heat. The tikkis will absorb milk and become soft and tender.The sweet dish Rasabali is ready. Garnish it with almond and pistachios slivers. Chill and serve. One can also serve it at room temperature after letting it down to cool.

                                                     ~Thanks~