World Baking Day: Five Traditional

Sweets

That Are Technically Baked

1. Chenna Poda

Chhena poda literally means ‘burnt cheese’ in Odia, referring to the sweet’s burnt outside, which is caused by the sugar caramelising outside, that hides a custardy inside, which is lowkey spongy. The origin of this chenna poda recipe goes back to Sudarshan Sahu, from Nayagarh, who mixed leftover chhena with sugar and some seasonings and left it inside an oven overnight. The next day, much to his amazement he discovered that he had created something delicious.

Ingredients:

• Fresh cottage cheese (chhena)

• Sugar or jaggery

• Semolina (sooji)

• Ghee

• Cardamom powder

• Cashews and raisins (for garnish)

• Banana or sal leaves (for wrapping)

Baking method:

Wrap in leaves, bake at 180°C for 40-50 minutes, or slow-roast on a charcoal chulha overnight. The crust should be deep brown and caramelised.

2. Nankhatai Biscuit

The nankhatai's origins date back to the late 16th century, during the time when India and the Dutch were important spice traders. In the city of Surat in Gujarat, a bakery had been set up by two Dutchmen to cater to Surat's Dutch population. When the Dutch left India, the bakery was given to a Parsi man named Faramji Pestonji Dotivala. 

The bread was unpopular with the local population due to the use of palm toddy and eggs, neither of which appealed to the local palate. To recover losses, the unsold dried bread was sold at lower prices and became known as the ‘Irani biscuit’. Dotivala scrapped toddy and egg, bringing the ingredient list down to only wheat flour, sugar, and butter, with a pinch of cardamom, and that is how the nankhatai came to be.

Ingredients:

• Maida (all-purpose flour)

• Besan (chickpea flour)

• Fine semolina (rava)

• Ghee (the non-negotiable)

• Powdered sugar with cardamom

• Baking powder (just a pinch)

• Pistachios or almonds for topping

Baking method:

Roll into balls, flatten slightly, and press a nut into the centre. Bake at 160-170°C for 15-18 minutes. The edges should just turn golden; the centre will firm as they cool. Do not overbake; the crumble is the point.

3. Sheer Khurma

This is usually a stovetop dessert, but sheer khurma’s defining technique of ghee-roasting of vermicelli can be achieved in the oven too. Sheer khurma is a festive dessert prepared by Muslims on Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha across India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia. 

The name comes from Persian terms ‘sheer’, meaning milk, and ‘khurma’, meaning dates. In its original form, it consists of dates mixed with milk from Iran and dry fruits and nuts from Afghanistan, and was modified in India by the addition of fried semia and caramelised sugar.

Ingredients:

• Fine wheat vermicelli

• Whole full-fat milk

• Seedless dates (Medjool or regular)

• Ghee (for roasting)

• Mixed nuts: pistachios, almonds, cashews, raisins

• Saffron, cardamom, rose water

• Sugar (adjusted for date sweetness)

• Optional: khoya, condensed milk, cloves

The technique:

Dry roast the vermicelli, stirring often on low heat until golden, then set aside. The roasted vermicelli gets an almost nutty flavour, which is then imparted to the sweetened milk as it simmers. This is baking logic: dry heat, caramelisation, Maillard browning, all applied to vermicelli on a tawa before the milk ever arrives.

4. Poda Pitha

If the chenna poda is Odisha's cheesecake, poda pitha is its oldest ancestor. And while the chenna poda recipe has a relatively recent origin story, poda pitha reaches back into antiquity. Poda pitha is among the oldest flat cakes in the world, and the tribal people of Odisha had perfected the technique around the 6th century BCE. The Odia word ‘poda’ means burnt and ‘pitha’ means cake. 

The traditional way uses soaked rice and a split urad dal mixture, which is flavoured with jaggery, crushed ginger, cardamom, and pepper. The mixture is then wrapped in banana leaves, topped with burnt charcoals and cow dung cakes, and baked slowly in earthenware on a clay oven overnight.

Ingredients:

• Soaked rice and split urad dal (fermented overnight)

• Jaggery (gur)

• Fresh coconut (grated)

• Ginger, cardamom, pepper, cloves

• Ghee (for greasing)

• Banana leaves (for wrapping)

• Optional: cashews, raisins

Baking method:

The preparation has evolved over time with modern cooking techniques like baking in an oven or microwave. However, the traditional method of baking on a charcoal chulha covered with a banana leaf and hot embers still holds its charm. In a modern oven, bake at 180°C for 40-45 minutes until the top is deeply brown.

5. Bhapa Doi

Curd is something India loves a lot, especially on a hot summer day and in Bengal, it takes the beloved form of doi, with mishti doi or sweet curd being the most sought after. Then there’s bhapa doi, which is a steamed dessert where the steam, directed around a covered vessel, is enclosed in moist heat. And enclosed heat, by any technical definition, is baking.

It is, in the simplest terms, sweetened hung curd set by heat with two to three ingredients, one technique, and a result that consistently surprises people who expect something far more complicated behind that dense, wobbly texture. To begin with, the yoghurt is strained to remove water content. Then it is later mixed with a sweetener like sugar or condensed milk, and then steamed to form a cheesecake-like texture. The steam further reduces moisture to create a wobbly, jelly-like consistency.

Ingredients:

• Thick-hung curd or Greek yoghurt (full-fat)

• Condensed milk or reduced whole milk with nolen gur

• Cardamom powder

• Saffron strands

• Optional: mango pulp, rose water, pistachios for garnish

Baking or steaming method:

Whisk the hung curd and condensed milk until completely smooth. Pour into ramekins or a greased baking dish. Cover tightly with foil. Steam for 20-25 minutes in an idli steamer or pressure cooker (without the weight), or bake in a water bath at 140°C for 20 minutes, then rest in the switched-off oven for 10 more minutes. Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 4 hours before serving. The texture should be firm enough to hold its shape when unmoulded, soft enough to tremble.

World Baking Day and Mithai

This World Baking Day, the Indian mithai counter deserves a second look, not as something separate from baking, but as a home to one of the world's oldest and most sophisticated baking methods. Be it the chenna poda recipe, the nankhatai biscuit or the poda pitha, all are delicious in their own right, baked in traditional ovens.