Suji Manda Pitha/ Semolina based sweet

Manda pitha is a delicately flavored, Oriya sweet. First time I ever tasted Manda pitha, was at Iti and Arun's place, couple of weeks back. Iti is an amazing cook, and everything coming out of her kitchen is bound to be perfect in every aspect, taste, flavor, texture, presentation etc. So I decided to take her recipe, as is, and not give any new twist to that (took a lot of self effort control though!!). And yes, it was indeed just the way it was meant to be. Well, that's what the food critiques at home had to say! ;) Super quick recipe.

You need:

Suji/ Semolina – 1 Cup (Fine variety)

Sugar – 2.5 Tbsp

Salt – ¾ tsp

Grated coconut – 1 Cup

Jaggery – ¾ cup (use sugar as substitute)

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Oil to deep fry

1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add salt and sugar to this.
2. Add semolina slowly, as you stir. This will avoid forming any lump.
3. Keep stirring till the semolina cooks and soaks all the water. This should look like a chapati dough and be very sticky. Once cool, using very little cold water knead this mixture really well, to form a smooth dough.
4. Preparing the stuffing - In a pan, add jaggery. Add a teaspoon of water and heat till the jaggery melts. Immediately add the shredded coconut and cardamom powder. Cook till the mixture dries up. Let it cool.
5. How to stuff - Now apply some water to your palm (to avoid dough sticking to your palm), roll approx. 3 tbsp of semolina mixture into a ball, flatten it to form a disc. Put a teaspoonful of the coconut jaggery filling in the centre, fold and roll in the edges to seal it completely. At this stage you will have a semolina ball with stuffing in the centre. Make sure surface is smooth all over and there is no chance of the filling coming out while deep frying. Press the ball gently to form a disc/ patti.
6. Deep fry the patties on medium high flame till golden brown.