Tilor Pitha l Assamese style glutinous rice wrappers with a sweet sesame filling
A unique and traditional Assamese (from Assam, a North Eastern state of India) delicacy usually prepared during the festival of Bihu. Glutinous rice is soaked and ground to make the outer wrapper encasing a sweet sesame and jaggery filling.
Ingredients
The outer wrapper-
- 3 cups glutinous rice
The filling-
- 1½ cups black sesame seeds
- 1½ cups jaggery shavings
- 1½ tbsp fennel seeds
Instructions
- Wash the rice in several changes of water until it runs clear. Soak the rice in enough water for 4 hours.
- Drain the water and leave the rice on a sieve for another four hours. Spread out the rice and make a dip in the middle to make it easier for the water to drain out. If your sieve is wider, you will need less time as the water will drain faster and rice will dry up sooner. We need the excess water to drain, but we do not want the rice to be dry. When you touch it, it should still feel wet, but not dripping.
- Grind the rice in small amounts and in short bursts till you get the right consistency. Scrape the insides of the grinding jar every now and then.Do not let the grinder become hot as it will affect the stickiness of the rice and make it difficult to roll the pithas.
- I did not sieve the ground rice. If you wish, you can.
- Keep the ground rice in a clean, dry bowl and gently press it down. This prevents drying it out. Do not wait to do this until you have ground all the rice. So grind one batch, pat down in the bowl, grind another batch, pat down on top of previous batch and so on.
- Cover the bowl of ground rice with cling film and refrigerate for 5-6 hours or overnight. Do not make the pitha immediately.
- In a small pan, add the sesame seeds and roast over low heat till it leaves an aroma and the seeds start to crackle. Transfer to a food processor and grind coarsely.
- Add the ground sesame seeds, jaggery and fennel seeds to a bowl and mix well, rubbing in with fingertips. There should be no huge lumps of jaggery. Keep aside and make sure the mixture has cooled before making the pithas.
- Place a heavy, thick bottomed iron pan/ tawa over low heat. The thicker the pan, the better as it will prevent the pitha from browning. The pan should be sufficiently heated, but not be too hot. You should be able to hold your hand a few inches (say 6-7 inches) over the pan without having to move it away. The pithas need to be cooked over low heat.
- From one side of the bowl, take a ladleful of the ground rice and place on a sieve.
- Using the sieve, spread the flour over the pan in an oval shape.
- Gently press with fingertips.
- After a couple of seconds, add a few teaspoonfuls of the filling across the middle.
- When the pitha starts to leave the pan ( the edges will start to come up and away from the pan), quickly make a roll from one of the longer ends. I just used my fingertips to start and finish making the roll. You can use the handle of a spoon etc to lift the edge to start rolling.
- After making the roll, push it to the edge of the pan to crisp up and get ready to make the next one. Do keep an eye on it; we don't it to brown.
- After shifting the pitha towards the edge of the pan use a tea towel to wipe away the remnants of the previous pitha and discard.
- Make the second pitha the same way as above.
- Make sure to keep an eye on the first (the one at the edge of the pan) or any others sitting near the edge. Turn it over and when it is crisp, transfer immediately to a dish lined with paper towels. Stack the pithas as you remove them from the pan.
- Make the rest of the pithas in the same way.
- Cool them completely before storing in an air tight container. They will be quite crumbly; handle with care.