Manda Pitha is primarily made from rice flour batter ,which is shaped into rounded balls and filled with grated coconut, cashews and cardamom powder. You have your choices available, if you want to fry, steam or boil your pithas. In this recipe, I have steamed them.
The speciality of this dish is that it is vegan and high in proteins, this is an anytime snack, loved by all age groups. This “guilt free snack” can, not only replace the “fried starters” that many people gorge during parties, but can also satisfy the taste buds when you pop a whole dumpling in your mouth and dig into the yummy sweet filling.
Ingredients:
1 cup Rice flour. If you don’t have readymade rice flour, soak rice for at least 2 hours and grind it to a very smooth batter by adding 2 cups of water.
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Milk
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp cardamom powder
1/2 cup grated Coconut
4 tbsp chhena or homemade paneer
3/4 cup sugar
Method:
Boil water and milk together with cardamom powder and salt
Add rice flour to it – part by part, while continuously stirring it to avoid lumps
Keep stirring it in low heat until all water is absorbed and it forms into a ball
Turn off the gas and cover the dough.
In the meantime prepare the sweet filling by heating up 2 tbsp ghee
Add the coconut and chhena and sugar and mix it well
Cook this in low heat for 7/8 minutes
Now prepare the dough by applying little oil on your palms and kneading the dough into a soft workable texture
Make sure that the dough is not very hot
Now take a tennis ball sized dough, make a dent in the center and put 1 tbsp of filling in it and close the opening. Smooth it all over to make it look like a ball. Make sure that there are no gaps.
You will get around 8 to 10 balls
Now we should steam them. Heat water in a steamer and steam the manda or dough balls for 10 mins.
My Tip: I added a 1 tsp cornflour to my dough
Full recipe: Manda Pitha/Rice Dumplings with Sweet Coconut Filling