Malpua and Papad Fry for Rathyatra Celebration
This traditional Bengali malpua recipe is prepared during Rathyatra and served with crispy papad as festive prasadam.
Watching young children pulling their chariots on the street on Rath Yatra makes my mind wheeze through the Rath Yatra day memories of my childhood. That excitement of decorating the vehicle with flowers, diyas, coloured papers, etc. throughout the day, that journey traversing the locality along with many other similar rath pullers with a blissful smile on the lips, that offering and a gentle pull of the chariot by a complete stranger whom I offered some of the Prasadam. Then there was the other excitement that came from the later part of the day. The fair. It held immense value of pleasure for every child of that time. Those wet fields, earthen utensils, colorful birds in cages and last but not the least the immense quantity of sweetmeats were a delight to all the senses.
This classic traditional malpua recipe comes from my dida [grandmother]. It is a very popular sweet dish. The khoa kheer adds a sweet texture and palm molasses adds flavor to the Indian pancake on the celebration day. The last stock of yearly stored Bengal date palm molasses is used up finally in the preparation for the celebration, and the eager wait for the next stock is renewed.
Preparation Time
- Prep time: 30 minutes
- Cook time: 45 minutes
- Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup yogurt, well beaten
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup khoa kheer or mawa, powdered and slightly dry roasted
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon semolina or sooji
- 2 teaspoons dry roasted fennel seeds
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Bengal date molasses syrup or 1 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar for making syrup
- 1 and 1/2 cups ghee or vegetable oil for frying malpua
Khoa kheer is optional, but it creates an authentic taste and a perfect crust on the fried malpuas.
Directions
- Take sugar for syrup in a pan and turn on the heat. Add water to make syrup and let it boil to one-thread consistency, because if it is too thin the malpuas tend to fall apart. Add 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice and one pinch salt to balance the sweet taste and turn off the heat. Keep warm.
- Mix yogurt, all-purpose flour, wheat flour, semolina, khoa kheer [optional], fennel seeds, sugar and salt. Add milk to form a smooth semi-thick batter. The batter should have a pouring consistency. Keep aside for half to one hour in a warm place. It will rise slightly by then.
- Heat oil or ghee in a pan for deep frying the malpuas. First heat the oil on high flame, then lower the fire to simmer, otherwise it will burn the malpuas from outside and not cook properly inside.
- Add one teaspoon hot ghee or oil to the batter and beat until smooth. It will help the malpuas absorb less oil during frying. Water-soaked raisins may be added here optionally.
- Scoop out one ladle of batter and drop it into the oil, frying one malpua at a time. The batter will spread like a round pancake and puff slightly. Fry carefully until both sides are golden brown and the edges curl up lightly and turn crisp.
- Remove the fried malpuas from oil onto kitchen tissue, then dip them in the warm syrup and keep soaking for half an hour. Drain excess syrup and serve hot.
Suggestions
- Bengal date palm molasses has a very distinctive flavor and taste, so we always avoid extra spice or flavored oil while frying malpuas.
- For sugar syrup based malpuas, add one tiny pinch of camphor along with lemon juice and salt to balance the sweetness.
- Rose petals may be added during garnishing.
- Serve hot or cold with hot crispy fried papad to celebrate the festival.
Gloom and Bloom
The meal or bhog [mahaprasad] offered to Lord Jagannath holds intrinsic ethical value even in our modern lives.
The principles behind it such as the timings of offering, the preparation and the process of serving if followed and maintained today can ensure the wellbeing of every individual.
For example, the timings of offering the bhog devised by our ancestors was decided keeping in mind the routine need of energy by the body and can be observed even in modern diet charts. The preparation involves boiling in particular and prohibits the use of oil and other spices therefore ideally nutritious in content.
The serving holds social integrity as there is no place for social divisions of castes, creed etc. Thus the ritualistic practices let alone the religious side of it throws light on a path that is universal for all past, present and upcoming generations to follow.
Mahaprasad
Mahaprasad is the main offering of rice in Jagannath Temple. In most temples of India, devotees may take "Prasad", holy food that has been offered to the deities, but only in Jagannath Puri this blessed food is called "Mahaprasad". "Maha" has two meanings here. First, it means great. Lord Jagannath is described as Maha Bahu and Maha Prabhu, so this word Mahaprasad itself gives us the impression of something great. The second meaning of Mahaprasad is "Ma-Prasad" and also called Nirmalya. If someone is sick, Mahaprasad is healing. If one takes Mahaprasad daily, people say, he will never suffer from disease in his life, that which makes one completely pure like a lotus.
Only Mahaprasad can be eaten by all together, whatever the religion or race, even on the same banana leaf.
Another name of Mahaprasad is "Kaibalya", which gives Moksha, salvation or liberation. It is said if one takes this food of Lord Jagannath, he will have not only physical well-being, but spiritual enlightenment as well. To seal any promise or vow, two friends hold a pot of Mahaprasad together and eat together from this same pot. This pot is called Abadha, meaning that which cannot be taken away or put into another pot.
The tradition of sharing Mahaprasad found in Jagannath temple has been greatly influenced by the Savari tantra as He is the deity of the Savara tribals. Jagannath's Mahaprasad is called "Abadha." In the tribal Saura language spoken by the Sabaras, Abadha means the act of boiling something in water. Mahaprasad is called so as the rice used in it is boiled in water.
Mahaprasad comprises two main varieties viz Anna Mahaprasad [lunch or dinner variety], and Shukhila Mahaprasad [snacks variety]. Anna Mahaprasad consists of Anna [rice], Dali [lentils and pulses], Dalma [vegetable and pulses], Shag [spinach], Khata [pickle], Kanika [fried rice], Ghia Anna [ghee-mixed rice] etc. Only indigenous vegetables are used in the temple kitchen.
The kitchen fire is called Vaishnava Agni, because it is the fire in the kitchen of Lord Jagannath. Clay pots are placed in a special earthen oven, five in number, one on top of another. Yet the one on top is cooked first, not last.
Kitchen
Sri Jagannath is the Lord of the Universe. His kitchen is considered as the largest and the biggest kitchen in the world. It is situated southeast direction of the outer compound of Srimandir. The length of the kitchen is 150 feet, breadth is 100 feet and height is about 20 feet. It consists of 32 rooms with 250 earthen ovens within these. Around 600 cooks [Suaras] and 400 assistants serve here everyday for preparing Lord's food.
This divine kitchen of Lord Jagannath is one of the biggest and splendid kitchens of the world which can feed one lakh people at a time.
In the home it is not possible to make 56 items, but some are prepared for special festivals.
Rice Preparations
- Sadha Anna - simple rice water
- Ghee Anna - rice mixed with ghee
- Kanika - rice, ghee and sugar
- Khechedi - rice mixed with lentils
- Dahi Pakhal - curd rice and water
- Mitha Pakhal - rice and sugar water
- Ada Pakhal - rice, ginger and water
- Oriya Pakhal - rice, ghee, lemon and salt
- Thali Khechedi - lentil rice with sugar and ghee
Sweets
- Khaja - made of wheat
- Gaja - made of wheat and sugar
- Ladu - made of wheat, sugar and ghee
- Magaja Ladu
- Jeera Ladu
- Jagannath Ballava - made of wheat, sugar and more ghee
- Khuruma - made of wheat, ghee and salt
- Mathapuli - made of ghee, ginger and a kind of bean ground into a thick paste
- Kakara - made of ghee and wheat
- Marichi Ladu - made of wheat and sugar
- Luni Khuruma - made of wheat, ghee and salt
Cakes, Pancakes and Patties
- Suar Pitha
- Chadi Lada
- Jilli
- Kanti
- Manda
- Amalu
- Puri
- Luchi
- Bara
- Dahi Bara
- Arisa
- Tripuri
- Rosapaik
Milk Preparations
- Khiri
- Papudi
- Khua
- Rasabali
- Tadia
- Chhena Khai
- Papudi Khaja
- Khua Manda
- Sarapulli
Bhoga
The word bhoga in Oriya and Sanskrit means enjoyment. This word is commonly used in Orissa in the context of food offerings made to the deities in the Temple. Every day and throughout the year, fifty-six varieties of dishes [Chhappan bhogas] are prepared and offered to the deities.
Bhogas are of two kinds: those that are cooked and prepared inside the temple kitchens are called Sankhudi, and those prepared outside the kitchen but inside the temple are called Nisankhudi Bhogas.
Bhog Recipes
Here are recipes for some of the most common Jagannath prasadas. Make and offer to your Lord, close or far relatives, friends and foe, share with neighbor and stranger, spread the humanity.
Medicine Prasadam or Pachon Recipes
The private physician of the royal family prepares a special nutritious sweet and medicine bhog for Lord Jagannath dev due to his fever and illness after Snan-purnima so he spends fortnight in nirodhan griha. The devotees can get the medicine prasadam as well.
Sweet or Nutritious Sherbet Recipe
A sherbet of cream and sugar candy and a glass of green coconut water mixed with a dash of camphor is also offered along with it.
Sabu Recipe
Sago or tapioca in milk with bay leaves and cardamom.
Bakkal Recipe
A judiciously ground mixture of neem leaves, haritaki, nutmeg, kalmegh, ginger, honey, cinnamon, black pepper, siddhi leaves and camphor dissolved in pure cow milk and Ganga water.
Subas-Pakhal Recipe
Soak roses, mallika, bel and jasmine flowers in water for two hours. Sieve through a clean cloth. Boil rice, drain the starch and wash in cold water. Mix the flower-infused water with the rice, add salt and offer with a simple vegetable soup.
Pita Recipe
Cube plantain flower, plantain stem, eggplant, potato, sweet potato and sweet gourd. Add shredded coconut. Roast fenugreek, cumin, black pepper and coriander seeds and powder them. Boil all ingredients together and finish with cumin in ghee.
Khechedi Recipe
Rice mixed with lentils, water and salt, cooked until the water is absorbed. Add ghee and hingu after cooking.
Kanika Recipe
Rice mixed with ghee and sugar. This rice preparation is cooked like khechedi but with sugar added.
Dalama Recipe
A dal and vegetable dish common in Oriya homes. Lentils are cooked with vegetables such as potato, bean, eggplant and sweet potato, then finished with coconut and fried spices.
Khiri Recipe
A sweet milk preparation. Rice khiri, suji khiri and chuda khiri are among the most common forms.
Khaja Recipe
A sweet pastry made of fine flour, fried until golden and dipped lightly in thick sugar syrup.
Pana Recipe
A sweet curd drink. During the days between Snana Purnima and Rath Yatra, the deities are said to be sick and take no food, but only this cool refreshing drink.
Vision through Illusion
Lord Jagannath is said to be Daru Brahma and Anna Brahma, life force itself in wood. Anna or rice has become life force itself, and so all must be fed. Jagannath Puri is, therefore, known as Anna Kshetra, because so many rice offerings are made daily, and in no other temple of India is rice offered as the main prasad to deities, and then distributed to all.
Lord Jagannath, Jagat Nath is a simple illustration of human nature and traits of God which makes it unique and distinctive from other worldly religions. Different facets of human life have emerged within the cult to give it a unique place and stature.
Art and architecture, ritual and food, community and equality all meet within the Jagannath tradition. Mahaprasad is distributed among friends and relatives and is said to perpetuate the ties of friendship and brotherhood.
Chitau Amavasya
This is celebrated on the new moon day of the lunar month of Shravana. A special type of rice cake called chitau is offered to Lord Jagannath at the temple.
Shamba Dashami
The festival is celebrated on the tenth day in the bright fortnight in pousha lunar month. Women fast and worship the Sun and offer a variety of rice cakes and other delicacies.
Kanji Amla Osha
This is held on the ninth day of the dark fortnight of Margashira. Kanji, amalaki and dried fish are considered invigorating in winter.
Pahili Bhoga
In the month of January, Mahaprasad is sometimes referred to as Pahili Bhoga, the special morning bhoga offered to Lord Jagannath during this month.
Food Note
The most peculiar uniqueness of Jagannath lies in his Mahaprasad or the cooked holy foods offered to him. In a caste-ridden Hindu society, the Mahaprasad of the Lord is considered so sacred that even a staunch orthodox Brahman accepts it from the hands of a person belonging to the lowliest of the caste order.
While the foods offered to all other Hindu deities are called prasad, the same offered to Lord Jagannath is known as Mahaprasad. Puri has the unique custom of discarding casteism and the stigma of leftovers when people share Mahaprasad together.
The people in those days used to practice such knowledge for sustainable development. Indigenous knowledge is embedded in community practices, institutions, relationships and rituals. It provides the basis for problem solving strategies for the communities.
This malpua and papad recipe carries the festive mood of Rathyatra while also opening a wider window into Jagannath bhoga, mahaprasad, temple food traditions and the shared cultural memory of eastern India. Keywords: malpua recipe, Rathyatra food, Jagannath bhog, mahaprasad, festival sweet recipe, papad fry, Odisha temple food.
