tribal cuisines
Ingredients in Gur Pitha, west bengal

This superbly old age traditional recipe has the mandatory ingredients of rice flour, jaggery, salt, and milk, all properly blended with cardamom, clove, cinnamon, and bay leaves. Rice flour forms the skeleton of the pancake. The jaggery contributes sweetness with an intense caramel flavour. The milk provides texture and moisture, as well as smoothness. Spices have seeped into the pitha thereby, making it aromatic, a dish that appeals to taste and senses as a festive dish.

Gur Pitha, which is pancakes made with jaggery, is a much-loved and cherished traditional dish of the Lodha community, representing a very rich heritage and rootedness to local ingredients in making their food. This sweet and aromatic item is often made during festivals when it gets extra flavour, the most famous among them being Makar Sankranti, which marks the harvest season. Gur Pitha is an example and evidence of the culinary creativity from the tribe and their use of local material, as it brings out a sackful of flavours and textures in scope when crafted for celebration and feasting among communities.

The first step in the preparation of Gur Pitha is as follows: prepare a smooth batter made from the combination of rice flour, jaggery, salt, and milk. The mixture is then kneaded to give a slightly stiff dough, and portions of it are shaped into pancakes made either on a hot girdle or over an open flame, depending on one's choice. The method of cooking is that of taking the form of specific flavours, allowing the spices to blend with sweetness from the jaggery in a beautiful combination. Once cooked, the hot pancake often finds its way into a plate, offering comfort and filling its consumers.

Makar Sankranti is the particular timing when making Gur Pitha is celebrated and, indeed, that is the festival which is supposed to signify the sun entering into the zodiac sign of Capricorn, meant to signal the chanting goodbye to winter and the welcome to harvest. Such a food taken together makes families and societies come together to celebrate what the season has brought for them. Such making and consumption of this Gur Pitha in this season will show the customs and traditions of the Lodha tribe in an expression of thankfulness for the bounty of nature, celebrating events, and eating together.

The unique ingredients in Gur Pitha are rice flour, jaggery, and milk, well combined to give nourishment and satisfaction to the dish. Rice flour, a staple in the region, provides a gluten-free base for the pancakes. Jaggery adds a flavour that is entirely its own and is preferred for its health benefits over refined sugars. Milk enriches the dish, rendering Gur Pitha a celebration of local ingredients and culinary traditions bearing the soul of the Lodha tribe.
