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Soft, melt-in-your-mouth rice flour dumplings simmered in a creamy, cardamom-scented milk base. This traditional Odia sweet is a comforting dessert, often prepared during festivals like Manabasa Gurubar.
Prepare the Rice Flour Dough
Shape the Dumplings (Gaintha)
Prepare the Milk Base
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Soft, melt-in-your-mouth rice flour dumplings simmered in a creamy, cardamom-scented milk base. This traditional Odia sweet is a comforting dessert, often prepared during festivals like Manabasa Gurubar.
This odia recipe takes 50 minutes to prepare and yields 4 servings. At 470.77 calories per serving with 11.38g of protein, it's a moderately challenging recipe perfect for dessert.
Cook the Dumplings
Sweeten and Finish the Pitha
You can use date palm jaggery (Nolen Gur) for a deeper, more caramel-like flavor. Granulated sugar can also be used as a substitute, but jaggery provides the traditional taste and color.
For a different aroma, add a few strands of saffron to the warm milk or a tiny pinch of edible camphor (pacha karpura) at the very end.
Enhance the presentation by garnishing with slivered almonds, pistachios, or a few dried rose petals before serving.
Made from rice flour and jaggery, this dessert is a rich source of carbohydrates, providing a quick and sustained energy boost, making it a popular choice during festivals.
The generous use of milk makes this dish a good source of calcium, which is essential for maintaining strong bones and teeth.
Unlike refined sugar, jaggery is unrefined and retains essential minerals like iron and magnesium, which contribute to overall health and well-being.
Dumplings can break for a few reasons: the dough was not kneaded smoothly and had cracks, they were added to rapidly boiling milk instead of a gentle simmer, or they were stirred too vigorously in the first few minutes of cooking.
Yes, you can substitute jaggery with an equal amount of sugar, adjusting to your preferred sweetness. However, jaggery provides the authentic golden color and a more complex, caramel-like flavor traditional to this dish.
Gaintha Pitha is a traditional dessert and is rich in carbohydrates and sugars, making it a source of quick energy. It should be enjoyed in moderation as part of a balanced diet. It does provide calcium from milk and some minerals from jaggery.
A single serving of Gaintha Pitha (approximately 1 cup) contains around 450-500 calories, depending on the fat content of the milk and the precise amounts of jaggery and coconut used.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days. The kheer will thicken considerably when chilled. You can enjoy it cold or reheat it gently on the stovetop, adding a splash of milk to loosen the consistency if needed.