Tel Pitha is a famous traditional sweet snack of Assam prepared during the festive occasion of Bihu like Magh Bihu and Bohag Bihu. It is an essential part of the Assamese Bihu Platter. Tel pitha is also prepared as a regular household snack and served with tea. It takes very minimal ingredients. The ingredients present in this authentic dish are rice flour, jaggery, all-purpose flour or wheat flour and oil. First, mix all the ingredients together with some water and deep fry them until there is an appearance of brown colour on it. You can eat it hot or at room temperature. It stays fresh for 2-3 weeks easily in freeze. Tel pitha is also known as Ghila Pitha. ‘Tel’ is an assamese word, which means ‘oil’.
How to make Tel Pitha?
- In a mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients together very well and prepare a lumps free smooth thick batter, it should not be watery.
- Cover the batter with a plate and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
- Take a deep pan or kadai and add oil for deep frying the pitha. Put the flame in medium high and let the oil become hot.
- Once the oil is hot, put the flame on low and drop small portions of the pitha batter into the pan to check the temperature of the oil. If the batter floats then it’s perfect for frying the pitha.
- Take a deep round spoon and add batter to the oil.
- Once the pitha start floating on the oil, splash hot oil carefully on the top side of the pitha to puff up. Once the corners get light golden flip the pitha.
- Fry them well from both sides till they become golden brown.
- Strain the excess oil and transfer the pitha on to a plate
- Serve them with tea.
Tel Pitha | Assamese Tel Pitha recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Method: Deep fry
- Cuisine: Assamese
Ingredients
- 2 cups of rice flour
- ½ cup wheat flour/atta
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup melted jaggery
- water
- oil to deep fry
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients together very well and prepare a lumps free smooth thick batter, it should not be watery.
- Cover the batter with a plate and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
- Take a deep pan or kadai and add oil for deep frying the pitha. Put the flame in medium high and let the oil become hot.
- Once the oil is hot, put the flame on low and drop small portions of the pitha batter into the pan to check the temperature of the oil. If the batter floats then it’s perfect for frying the pitha.
- Take a deep round spoon and add batter to the oil.
- Once the pitha start floating on the oil splash hot oil carefully on the top side of the pitha to puff up. Once the corners get light golden flip the pitha.
- Fry them well from both sides till they become golden brown.
- Strain the excess oil and transfer the pitha on to a plate
- Serve them with tea.
Notes
- You can also add desiccated or fresh coconut to this recipe.
- You can store it in an airtight container for 3 days in a cool dry place and refrigerate it for 1 week.