Continuing the thread of authentic Assamese cuisines , I want to tell you about another sweet delicacy . Narikol pitha is specially for all the sweet toothed coconut lovers .
Coconut is one of those love hate ingredients . ~ Marcus Samuelsson
Ingredients :
- One kilo of sticky rice .
- Two to three coconuts .
- About two – three hundred grams of sugar or jaggery (according to taste) .
- A pinch of salt .
- Few cardamom pods .
Procedure :
Wash and soak the rice for about four – five hours . Meanwhile, grate the coconut flesh and mix it with the sugar or jaggery( in melted or powdered form ) . Put this sweet coconut mix in a nonstick pan and stir for sometime in a low flame . Also add the cardamom to the pan . Stirring this mix for about five – ten minutes will produce a nice golden brown color and lovely aroma . That is when u can remove the pan from the flames . For extra taste you can add a tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk while stirring .
Leave the coconut mix to cool down and grind the rice to a fine flour . Use a fine sieve to remove any rice pieces left in the powder . Add a pinch of salt to this powder and mix it .
Warm up a flat pan for making the narikol pitha (do not make it too hot , otherwise the flour will stick to the pan ) . Use about a fistful of the flour and make a small round shape of about half a centimeter thickness as shown in the center of the picture . The heat makes the flour stick and forms small roti – like shape . Add about two teaspoons of the sweet coconut mix in the middle of the pitha and fold it in the middle to form a semicircular shape as shown in the picture . Press the edges to seal the coconut inside the pitha .
There you have your recipe for another Assamese delicacy popularly known as narikol pitha or japa pitha . It can be preserved for more than a week if kept in a dry air-tight container , but it tastes absolutely heavenly directly of the pan .So try to serve it hot .