Pithla is the perennial ‘comfort food’ for most Maharashtrians. Piping hot Pithla coupled with Bhakri or Rice or Roti is like a reward after a long day at work.
This humble dish requires only a handful of simple ingredients and can be churned out within minutes. It’s a handy recipe when you are either out of stock for veggies or guests visit you unannounced or when you long for your Mom’s food!
Like every recipe Pithla has many variations. What I make is the spicy version with lots of onion, garlic and green chillies.
Depending on whether you want to serve Pithla with Rice or Bhakri/Roti, the consistency also varies. Pithla served with rice has almost watery- liquid like consistency. Semi liquid or dry Pithla goes well with Bhakri or Roti. This dry version of Pithla is alternately known as Zunka.
_________________________________________________________Pithla recipe
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- 1 cup Besan / Chick pea flour / gram flour gram
- 2 onions chopped
- 4 - 5 green chillies chopped
- 4 - 5 pods garlic peeled
- 1 coconut u201d piece dried (Khopra)
- xbd tsp seeds Cumene
- xbd tsp mustard seeds
- xbc tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp oil
- ~ 2 - 3 cups water
- coriander leaves Chopped for garnishing
- Salt as per taste
- Pithla Ingredients u2013 Coarsely ground chutney(Green chillies+garlic+cumene seeds+coconut) ,onion, Besan(chickpea flour) and granite mortar pestle for pounding
- In a mortar and pestle pound (or coarsely grind in a mixie) together chopped Green chillies, garlic pods, dried coconut piece and cumene seeds.
- Heat oil in wok/kadai.
- Add the mustard seeds and once they splutter add the coarsely ground chutney(Chilli-garlic).
- Add the chopped onions and fry till they become translucent.
- Add 2-3 cups of water and bring it to a nice rolling boil.
- Add salt (at this stage, you can check the salt proportion by tasting the liquid)
- Slowly add the Besan with your left hand, constantly stirring with a spoon in your right hand.
- Adjust the besan proportion to the required consistency.Remember that after the Pithla cools, it becomes thicker. So keep it a little liquidish (that is actually a word in my vocabularyJ) if you want to serve it with rice.
- Boil nicely for a few minutes more.
- Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve piping hot with Bhakri/Roti/Rice.
Pithla served with Roti, Green chilli and onion
Pithla, Bhakri and Thecha served with Green chillies and Raw onion make a fabulous combination.
Don’t cut the onion. Take a small onion (preferably white onion).Break it with the base of your palm. Remove the cover and eat it…this tastes much better than the cut onion J
This assal(meaning- hardcore) Marathi Pithla goes for RCI-Maharashtrain Cuisine hosted by- the versatile and very popular, Nupur of One Hot Stove.
That is such a beautiful presentation: a humble and delicious meal! “reward” is such an apt term: I feel truly lucky when I get to eat some garam-garam pithle-bhaat.
@ 🙂 Thanks Nupur
Awesome! I am so missing this 🙁
madhuli, which region of maharashtra is this pithla from? i believe there are regional variations to this?
@ Bee not only regional variations ,there are variations from household to household 🙂 This spicy Pithla has an influence of the Khandeshi food (from Khandesh- Dhule, Jalgagoan etc.), which is known for its spicy food. I have learnt it from my mom -of course
hi madhuli , pithle bhakri (with some home made ghee)….nothing more comforting than tht… cant wait to try it
Craving for some Pithala Bhakri with garam kaanda bhaji sold at Sinhagadh now!
@ And dahi in the earthen cup!!!hmmm you made me nostalgic Dhana.are you from Pune??
Hi, thanks a lot for the recipe. I followed your recipe and outcome was close to pithla I had had and loved in Pratapgarh few years back.