Enduri Pitha in Instant Pot

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 Let's start with the fact that I really do not like the "Prathamastami" as a festival. For whatever reason, the Odiya society decided to venerate & praise & give new clothes to the eldest child of the family along with a whole set of responsibilities & what-not. In my humble opinion, it should be a festival to celebrate all children of the family not just the eldest one. 

Someone was even smarter to come up with something for the second child (in case they felt bad) called "Duhaan Podhuan" but then that was a weak attempt too because many (many) families have more than 2 children. What about the 3rd child now? What are we going to do about them? Aren't they humans? Don't they have hearts? 


So anyways, in all I am not a huge fan of the festival in it's concept. 

The food attached to it however.... YUMMM... The fragrant Enduri Pitha made inside of a pocket created with fresh turmeric leaves & steamed to perfection.. OMG.. 

Whether it is a plain Enduri to enjoy with Alu curry or has a sweet coconut stuffing, this Odiya pitha is definitely one of my MOST FAVORITE Pithas of all times. 

To make these pithas in US was a far fetched dream because other than Odisha, I have never (ever) seen the fresh turmeric leaves in any markets. Be it Mumbai or Bangalore or even the east coast. 

BUT... This year, my husband dear was dear enough to actually plant a Turmeric plant in our backyard which then yielded the MOST FRAGRANT leaves for these fluffy beauties. 

What I used

  • Store bought Idli batter
  • Good old stainless steel Idli stand
  • Instant Pot 6 Qt.
  • Two fresh green turmeric leaves (This was just a trial recipe to see how things turn out)
  • Wee bit neutral/vegetable oil

Process
  • Plug in the IP & pour about 1 cup of water
  • Place the Idli stand (Any steamer would work really)
  • Take one turmeric leaf & grease it a wee bit with neutral oil
  • Carefully place small amount of the idli batter on the leaf
  • Fold the leaf carefully & place on the idli stand
  • Steam for 8 minutes on High on Vent on Venting mode. Steam needs to come out 
    • You will need to use a different timer as the IP timer won't work when you have the Vent on Venting mode

I only tried this recipe with two Pithas as I did not know exactly how to use the leaves & how to fold etc. I have only seem my mother do all this every year (after year.. after year) but from a great distance. When I tried it last time, it was using a Banana leaf & those were a bit weird to handle as well. I had to warm them up first before stuffing with batter since they won't fold etc etc. 

But boy these Pithas came out to be soft (of course since I used store bought batter) and they are SO SO fragrant.




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