Odisha Mo Odisha

Lately, my sister & I have been very cautious about our carbohydrate intake. It may be because of age or lack of balanced diet or just age (Did I say age twice? .. well, it's important you know). We have been trying to look for keto friendly recipes & this cake was a a baked good baked my fluke (Yes fluke.. not a mistake, but a fluke). Here we had a Keto pancake mix in the pantry which we both did not like much. We wanted to use it somehow & my sister just remembered that when we did not have all purposed flour & it was my son's birthday we actually had baked a cake using regular pancake mix. So may be we could try the same recipe with Keto pancake mix !!!! I was skeptic to say the least. I mean, Keto pancake mix does not have any gluten in it so I was not sure how the cake will turn out. Also, we had a poor banana going real bad in the fruit basket too which I intended to use. So... I bit the bullet & made this "Almost" Keto cake. 

Two ripe bananas, Staring at me from the pantry. My heart beats fast.. Imaging their destiny. Two ripe bananas, Trying to tell me a story. The eyes of desperate mom.. Trying to solve this mystery. The mystery of "What will my kids eat", The mystery of "What should I bake", The mystery of "How do I save these bananas".. The mystery of "What should I make". In attempt to save the most ripened bananas ever, I started mixing stuff for a banana cake. I browsed through tons of recipes on the internet. Some used eggs, some did not. I wanted to use eggs.. so I filtered that list. Some used sour cream & some did not. I had not sour cream at home.. So ignore that list. Some used whole wheat flour & some used all-purpose. I wanted to keep it traditional, so I stuck with AP flour. The filtering process was so intense that I was left with a recipe with "NOTHING" !!!! Then, I used 3 or so recipes & combined them to

How can an Odiya kitchen be complete without all the utensils/non-food items that we use to make, store & eat the food? If you are setting up something first time or are in a new city & need the Day-1 list of items for your kitchen to start making your meals yourself, I hope this list will come in handy for you.  The typical Odiya kitchen is not very complex to setup. There are a few utensils that you will need to get started & then you can keep adding on top of that as & when you get comfortable with cooking your own food & are ready to start exploring different cuisines.  To start with, let's talk about the basic cookware :  A Pressure Cooker  Is a MUST in an Odiya kitchen 3 Lit. for family of 4 ; 5 Lit. for family for 6 or more ; Bigger size for bigger families Ideal for Daali, Alu Sijha, Dalma, Khechudi or even quick plain rice or pulao A Kadai or Deep Bottom Pan A medium size one - 10 inches diameter will come in handy. For all curries & fries & als

The annual festival of Raja this year brought back many many fond memories. Back in the day, " Raja " (Pronounced as Raw-Jaw) was the last festival before the summer vacations were over. We used to go to our village to celebrate this festival with family & other friends in the village.  Raja is the festival where we celebrate Mother Earth's Fertility & Positivity. It symbolizes every woman's womanhood. This is a 3-day festival - Pahili Raja (Pre-Celebrations) --> Raja (Proper Raja) --> Basi Raja (Post-Celebrations). Irrespective of whether your family celebrates all 3 days or just the second day or just the first day, Raja is a festival of merriment & humankind's way to show it's gratefulness to Mother Earth for being so supportive & bountiful.  The festival is celebrated with many rituals & foods... Girls dressing up with new clothes, jewelry, Alita (Red color liquid used to decorate your feet),  swinging on rope or bamboo swings, 

Summer in India means a lot of green vegetables, of which Potala (Pointed Gourd) is a family favorite of many Odiyas. Potala is a versatile vegetable whose recipes find spots in Odiya kitchens for day to day meals & also in Odiya wedding receptions for more richer experience.  Potala recipes vary from simple stir fry to more complex korma. You can make Potala pakudi, stuffed potala.. the list can go on for ever. This curry recipe is a simple Potala Alu Curry (All Odiya curry recipes have Potatoes.. you must know that by now). The only twist is the Pre-frying of Potala & Alu to give the curry a more flavorful look & attitude.  Here's what I used: Potala or Pointed Gourds (1 lb) skin scrapped cut diagonally Potato (1 big) skin removed cubed to match the potala Odiya masala paste (Onion+Ginger+Garlic+Red chillies + Cinnamon stick + Green cardamom + Cumin seeds + Water) Posto Paste 2 tbsp Poppy seeds group fine with water Dry Masalas C

Proteins are an essential part of the Odiya kitchen. Now remember that the old style Odiya kitchen did not store protein in their kitchen, rather meat/chicken/fish & eggs were brought on the day that they were supposed to be cooked.  Most Odiya households do not eat non-veg food on Mondays & Thursdays. Some Odiya households do not eat non-veg food ever. Some Odiya households do not eat meat or chicken but are ok with fish & eggs. The variety of inclusions and exclusions are far too many. But to keep things simple, I have listed here what I have in my kitchen. My family eats all of these items on almost all days (Not every single day silly... just when we feel like). Also, we don't buy these on the day when we want to cook it. We buy it beforehand & store in the freezer. It is not possible for us to go to the market every single day. So..here goes the list. Chicken Whole chicken  Boneless-Skinless thighs Wings or Drumsticks Keema or Ground chicken S

Now that your pantry is setup (well.. almost), it's time to move on to some basic vegetables that you will need on a day to day basis for your Odiya kitchen. These are really the primary vegetables that are always used in an Odiya kitchen. The make & model will again depend on your taste but as long as you have these in your kitchen (either in the fridge or pantry), you will not g hungry at all. You can add or subtract any vegetables from the list based on your food habits or health restrictions etc. This list is merely a baseline from my kitchen. You can go above & beyond this... Try it !! Alu or Potatoes Piyasa or Onions Tomatoes Baigana or Eggplants or Brinjal Sagaw or Green Leaves (Any kind that you like - Chard, Spinach, Kale - List is unending) Kakharu or Pumpkin or Any kind of Squash (Butternut, Zucchini, Opo, Green Papaya etc) Dhaniya Patra or Green Coriander Leaves Bhrusanga Patra or Curry leaves Ada or Ginger Rasuna or Garlic Lanka or Green chilli

After you have set up your own Odiya kitchen with the Part 1 pantry items, here's the next level of pantry items that you may get to take your Odiya cooking to the next level. In this list, we will cover some secondary items for your Odiya kitchen pantry (Again... long shelf life, no refrigeration needed) which will help you make a little advanced Odiya recipes. Let's see .. Shall we? Grains Kheeri Chaula or Very short grain rice for kheer Buta Daali or Chana Daal or Split Yellow Peas Dry Fruits Kaju or Cashews Kismis or Raisins China Badam or Peanuts or Groundnuts Flour Besana or Besan or Chickpeas flour Sooji or Semolina Maida or Refined Flour Whole Spices Labanga or Cloves Pana Mahuri or Fennel seeds (Saunf in Hindi) Gol Maricha or Whole Black Peppers Bada Alaicha or Whole Black Cardamom Posto or Poppy Seeds Ground Spices Curry powder (Kitchen king or any mixed veg curry powder) Sambar Powder Meat Masala Chicken Masala Fish Masala

If you are new to Odiya cooking (or just new to cooking) and wondering what are the very basic & bare minimum pantry staples that you should get for your kitchen which will be used in daily recipes & meals, here's an easy to follow list for you. This is Part 1 where I have listed, the very basic pantry items - They are dry with long shelf life & do not need refrigeration of any kind. These items will always be used in any Odiya recipe that you make. These are basically must-haves to get you going with Odiya home cooking. This list does not include any vegetables or fish or meat proteins. We will cover them later. Grains Chaula or Rice Any rice that you like to eat. When in doubt, get Basmati rice. That works for most Odiya recipes. Daali or Lentils Harad Daali or Toor Daal or Split Yellow Pigeon Peas Mooga Daali or Moong Daal or Yellow Split Mung beans Flour Atta or Whole Wheat Flour Oil Mustard Oil Refined Oil Vegetable or Sunflower oil

Growing up in Odisha, we were very close to the religious aspect of the state. Lord Jagannatha is the main deity who is worshipped all over the state. Other than him, his other " avatars " are also worshipped like " Shree Krushna ", " Vishnu " etc. In the Hindu religion, it is known & agreed that there are mainly FOUR temples which are " Dhaam "s ( Dhaam : Where the actual lord resides, where the lord's home is). One of the four dhaams is  Jagannatha Temple in Puri, Odisha. Puri is an ocean side city in Odisha located on the Bay of Bengal (East Odisha). Other than the religious aspect, this city is famous for its great seafood selection, scenic drives along the bay & of course Mandira Bhoga (temple food). Jagannatha Temple in Puri is known for its prasad. Lakhs of followers from in & out of Odisha come to the temple every single day & enjoy the food cooked by the temple cooks who prepare the food for prasad every day

Hello & welcome to Pakhala Series on Odisha-Mo-Odisha Blog. Today's Pakhala Episode is brought to you by the many Odiya families in the bay area who we hand out with & celebrate Pakhala Party every summer.  This summer is going to be different because we won't be able to meet but we will be with each other in spirit while we all eat Pakhala Bhata & enjoy Summer of 2020. Today's Pakhala Thali has.. Pakhala Bhata Alu Bharta Saaga Bhaja Macha Bhaja Potala Pakudi Chingudi Bhaja Chingudi Checcha Veg Besara Fry