Happy New Year to everyone, and wish you all have a wonderful and luscious year ahead! Here is the next variant of pitha, mostly served as breakfast or an evening snack item with tea in Assam and as well as in West Bengal. Tel Pitha (‘Tel‘ means ‘Oil’ in Assamese) or Ghila Pitha is one of the popular pithas in this region prepared during almost every festival or special occasion. The batter for this pitha is deep-fried that makes it crispy outside and fluffy inside. It is one of the easiest pitha recipes that can be made instantly with minimum ingredients. This pitha is mildly sweet with a punch of kalonji or fennel seeds that would pop-up in your mouth in every bite. Check this out!

Ingredients:

Rice flour: 2 cups

Sugar or Jaggery: 4-5 tablespoons 

Salt: 1 pinch

Kalonji (onion seeds): 1 teaspoon 

Or Fennel seeds: Instead of Kalonji

Baking powder: 1 teaspoon (optional)

Water: To make the batter 

Oil: For deep frying

Preparation: Half an hour to 45 minutes, serves 3-4 persons.

Note: One cup of rice would make 2 cups of flour. To check how to make the rice flour, click here.

Step 1: Mix salt, sugar, and kalonji with the rice flour in a bowl. You can add baking powder along with the other ingredients, which is optional. Add water to make the batter. Whisk it to break the lumps and make a smooth batter, slightly thicker than a pancake batter. You can also use Jaggery instead of sugar as the sweetener.

Step 2: Heat oil in a kadhai or a deep pan for frying. Once the oil is hot enough, lower the flame. Take a deep spoon or ladle and drop one scoop of batter into the oil. Braise it with the hot oil from the top and fry both sides until it turns golden brown and the outer layer is crispy.

Step 3: Place tissue papers on a plate and keep the fried pithas on it to absorb the excess oil. Make the remaining pithas in the same process. Sprinkle some powdered sugar over it just for decoration and serve hot along with tea or coffee.