Til Pitha

Ingredients

• 400 g bora saul (Assamese sticky rice), or any short glutinous rice
• 150 g jaggery, finely chopped
• 110 g black sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp salt
• about 250 ml water for the batter

Before you cook

• Soak the rice in plenty of cold water for 6 to 7 hours.
• Drain it in a colander for 30 minutes, leaving the grains damp rather than dry.
• Grind the damp rice to a fine flour, then cover it with a wet cloth and rest it in the fridge for 5 to 6 hours or overnight.
• Loosen the rested flour with the water to a heavy, damp, sandy mixture that just falls off a spoon.

Steps

1. Dry roast the black sesame seeds in a pan over medium heat for five minutes, until they crackle and smell nutty.
2. Tip the seeds out to cool, then pound them coarsely in a mortar.
3. Rub the pounded sesame together with the chopped jaggery, ground cardamom and salt until the mixture is evenly damp and crumbly.
4. Set a flat cast-iron tawa on low heat and use no oil whatsoever.
5. Stir the rice mixture well, since the flour settles fast, then spoon a large ladleful onto the hot tawa.
6. Spread it into a thin 15 cm round with the back of the spoon.
7. Wait about forty seconds, until the edges lift and the sheet holds together as one piece.
8. Lay a line of the sesame filling across the middle of the sheet.
9. Raise the heat for ten seconds so the sheet releases cleanly from the pan.
10. Roll the sheet over the filling with a spatula into a tight cylinder.
11. Press the roll gently along the tawa for twenty seconds to firm it up.
12. Lift it out, repeat with the rest of the batter, and serve warm with red tea.