Suji Poda Pitha

In a broad pan or kadhai, start boiling 4 cup water along with jaggery over medium heat.

When jaggery starts to melt then add crushed ginger, grated coconut, small coconut chunks, cashews, raisins, green cardamoms , salt, 2 tbsp ghee and give a nice stir.

Allow everything to boil for 4-5 minutes.

Now lower the heat and add sooji slowly at a time, stirring continuously to avoid any lumps formation.

Keep stirring till the mixture starts leaving the sides and thickens a bit.

The sooji jantani (semolina mixture) for the podapitha is ready now.

Turn off heat and cover the pan, keep aside to cool down for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, take a baking pan and layer with some small banana leaves (optional) and then grease with ghee. Keep aside.

Now transfer all the sooji jantani (semolina mixture) onto it.

Grease the palm with ghee and start pressing the mixture to get an evenly layer.

Decorate the top with some coconut slices and cover the cast iron pan either with aluminium foil or some more banana leaves.

Bake in the preheated oven and bake for 30 – 35 minutes first and slowly for 15 minutes.

Cool down completely and cut into pieces and enjoy.