Authentic Odia Meal for Rath Yatra

Rath Yatra is a car festival for Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, celebrated annually during the month of Asadha (Rainy Season of Odisha, usually falling in month of June or July).  The dieties are brought out onto the Bada Danda (main street of Puri)  and travel (3 km) to the Shri Gundicha Temple, in huge chariots (ratha), allowing the public to have darshan (Holy view). 

Lord Jagannath in Puri is offered 56 varieties of dishes on a daily basis in different meals which have their pre-defined menu and then the pilgrims are allowed to have the dishes in form of Mahaprashad. The dishes include various rice preparations (like Kanika, Dahi pakhala, mitha pakhala, khechudi, sadha anna, ghia anna etc), dal preparations (mitha dali, dalma) , curries (saga, mahura, besara etc), pithas (kakara, adisa, kanti, bara etc) , sweets (gaja, khaja, malpua, rasgulla, chena poda,khiri rasabali etc).  These dishes are cooked in earthen pots stacked up one above another and it is said that the food in the top most pot gets cooked first and the bottom most dish at the end. Interesting, isn't it?

Having prashad in a temple , sitting on the floor, is always very satisfying and we make sure that we have some prashad , whichever temple we visit during our trips.

So a simple meal in a Jagannath temple in other places would generally consist of a sweet rice called Kanika, plain rice, dal , a mix veg curry called Besara or Mahura, a green leafy vegetable preparation called Saga, a sour and sweet dish called khatta (made of vareity of fruits), and Khiri or Kheer. 
And yes, a humble serving of a piece of lemon, a green chilly and salt. Just mash all the three together and have it with your meal. It shoots up the satisfaction to a different level.

So today on the account of the Rath Yatra festival and being locked down at home due to the pandemic, we tried to prepare this authentic meal for our lunch and get the true feel of the festival.

Here's the Menu.

• Khiri -  Or known as Kheer is a sweet rice pudding prepared by cooking govindbhog    or basmati rice in milk with added sugar and dry fruits.
• Kanika - It's a sweet rice with some added spices and dry fruits,  and grated coconut(optional).
• White rice - It's the plain rice.
• Amba khatta - This is a sweet and sour dish prepared of raw mangoes and jagerry.
• Mitha dali - This is chana or tur dal prepared with a blend of coconut and spices with a tadka of hing , mustard and red chilly.
• Mahura  - This is a mix veg curry with a mustard, cumin and fennel seeds base.
• Kakara pitha - This is a sweet made of semolina or whole wheat flour with coconut stuffing.

For few of the dishes you can find the recipes in our blog. The rest will be updated soon 😊

Do give it a try and share with us your memories of Rath Yatra!

Happy cooking!!!