Winter means a festival of pitha and payesh. When the scent of new molasses fills the air, eating hot chitoi pitha is a special pleasure. But in today's busy life there is little time to soak rice and grind it into flour, so many people buy dry rice flour from the market. The problem is that pitha made with it often does not rise properly or turn soft. With a little technique, though, excellent chitoi pitha can be made from dry rice flour too. Here is a simple recipe.

• Dry rice flour: 1 cup
• Cooked rice: a handful
• Lukewarm water: about 1 cup
• Salt to taste

First put the dry rice flour in a bowl. Mix in lukewarm water a little at a time and leave it for a while so the flour swells a little. Then pour the mixture into a blender, add a handful of cooked rice and blend well into a smooth batter. The batter should be neither too thick nor too thin; keep it at a medium consistency. Finally, mix in salt to taste.

Now heat a chitoi pitha mould or pan on the stove. Wipe it with a damp, clean cotton cloth so the pitha does not stick. Pour a ladle of batter into the hot mould and cover it. After 2-3 minutes, when the pitha is cooked, take it out. Your chitoi pitha is ready.

It tastes even better served with various bhortas, duck or beef, date molasses, grated coconut or milk. Made this way, dry rice flour too gives soft, puffy and tasty chitoi pitha to make winter mornings more enjoyable.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.