Ingredients ;
1 cup parboiled rice ( I took parboiled basmoti)
2 tbl spoon store bought rice flour
Pinch of salt
Liquid milk+ water mixed
For the filling :
Grated fresh coconut
Jaggery ( I prefer khejur gur , molasses from silver date palm)
You can use any savory filling too , instead of coconut and jaggery , like meat , fish , or even veggies)
Procedure :
1. Soak the rice overnight or at least 5/6 hours .
2. Drain the water and let the rice drained out well .
3. Now grind it in a grinder or coffee grinder . add the store bought rice flour with it .
4. Mix some water and milk . Don’t take too much . Around 1/3 rd cup . Add salt and sprinkle water+milk in a way that the flour must seem wet , not dry at all .Neither it should look like batter. Don’t add the liquid at a time . You may not need that much liquid . If the flour binds together if you hld some of them in your palm , the flour is ready . It must not be dry that it doesn’t hold together . If the flour is dry, the pitha will break apart .
5. Now sieve the flour through the stariner . Take two pieces of clean cotton cloth and two small bowls .
6 . In the bowl spread some flour , then add the coconut and jaggery . Cover it with another layer of flour . Even it . Don’t press too much or else ,it will break down while placing it for steaming . Cover it with a piece of cloth and put in the steamer. Tap the bowl slightly , so that you can remove the bowl easily . Remove the bowl and cover the pitha with the remaining ends of the cloth .
7. Steam for 4/5 minutes . Prepare the same way using the the other bowl and cloth . You remove one pitha and place another . For steaming I don’t have that specific utensil for making bhapa pitha . Any steamer will do . I sometimes use
the Chinese bamboo steamer . You can do more than one at a time . Some times I just take a small saucepan with water and place a large metal strainer or large slotted spoon over it , so that it covers the face of the utensil . Boil the water and steam the bhapa pitha on it . But you must put the lid on while steaming .
These are the utensils , I used for steaming . You can use any of the method .
