Top Ten List of the Mouth-watering Odia Sweets from Odisha

Anyone who has lived in Odisha or is planning to visit must include the Odia sweets to experience during visit. As a coastal state rich in history and culture, the regional heritage pretty much influences Odia cuisine. Before listing the must-try sweets, here is a short introduction to Odia cuisine particularly its sweets and desserts.

Introduction to Odia Desserts and Odia Sweets

As mentioned, Odia cuisine has many social, cultural, and agricultural influences. In a few points, here are some key facts to introduce you to Odia sweets.

• Ingredients

As one of India’s biggest rice producers, many types of Odia cuisine is made of rice base. Millets also form a substantial part of the daily diet in the tribal belt of Odisha with a gradual spread to other parts of the state. The state also cultivates sugarcane and date palm trees to extract natural source of jaggery sweetness. Amongst other fresh produce, one will find varieties of dairy products such as paneer, chhena, khoya, and rabdi etc made from fresh and high quality cow milk.

All these ingredients naturally make most of the Odia Sweets to be protein rich, judiciously sweetened along with next to zero level of adulteration.

Spoiler alert: Many Odia sweets are made out of soaked and baked processes.

• Hinduism influence

One of the sacred Hindu dhams, the Jagannath Puri temple, is based on the east coast of Odisha. Lord Krishna who is known to be an avatar of Lord Jagannath, is fond of sweets. The sugary cuisine symbolizes the Odisha people’s honor to Lord Krishna.

That is why many of the Odia Sweets get their root trace back to the Chhapan Bhog Spread served before Lord Jagannath Ji in Puri Temple, Odisha.

• History aspect

According to Hindu scripture, Odia cooks from the Puri region had the best ability to make food. This belief lasted for centuries. So in the nineteenth century, dozens of Odia cooks migrated to Bengal for work.

It is natural on their part to utilize the culinary wonders of Odisha and brought along some signature dishes from the Odia Cuisine. That is why one may find similarity in preparing both the cuisine including Odia Sweets.

Below is a list of top Odia Sweets those are widely relished and loved by any Odia or Bengali or any foodie who so ever has ever come across on such delightful savories:

The Best Odia Sweets to Try

Finally, here are some yummy sugary foods from Odisha for all sweet teeth. Some are already quite famous and most searched for sweets in google. So please note, if your search for Odia Sweet is on while away from Odisha, you might find them in your favorite Rasabali Outlet !

1. Khiri Payesh (Kheer)

Some also call it Odia Kheeri Payesh, or Payasam. It is probably most Odia people’s comfort dessert. This type of Odia sweets comes from pure A2 milk, sugar/jaggery, roasted dry fruits, and cow ghee. They all go through boiling process together. Some variations include nuts, saffron and cardamom to add flavor.

This sweet also belongs to one of Prasada or religious food offerings in Hinduism. The classical Indian literature telling Krishna’s story also mentions this food. Despite being a staple Hindu temple food, this sweet porridge is enjoyable for all and easy to make.

2. Chhena Poda

This is the ultimate sweet that will appear on every list of Odisha famous sweets. The name translates to the burnt cheese. The mixture comes from Chhena (fresh soft cheese) made from from A2 cow milk, green cardamom, semolina, ghee, and sugar. It takes several hours to bake, but turns out to be the best cheese cake of Odisha having caramelized texture crust outside yet tender inside.

There is also the jaggery version which uses sugar cane powder instead of sugar. Cardamom and nuts may also be used as seasoning for the batter. Chhena Poda tastes best regardless of getting served hot or cold during any time of the day. The balance of smokiness and sweetness is truly a chef’s grace for simplicity yet classy way of presenting this best Odia traditional dessert.

3. Malpua

People can call it Pua in short. This Odia sweet type also has similar varieties in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and some other parts of India. This sweet is a mix of mashed coconut or ripe bananas, thickened milk, and a little rice flour. Some also add cardamoms to the mixture or the dip syrup.

People fry the mixture in a circle form and dip it in sugar syrup. The syrup can also have other flavors like rose water and saffron. The best serving of this sweet is while it is hot. People also love to drip some condensed milk on top.

4. Rasabali

Rasabali at first glance looks similar to Malpua. Instead, its main ingredient is only chhena. This traditional Indian sweet is made of thin donut shape fresh chhena patty deep fried in pro-health rice bran oil.

Then, they soak the fried Chhena in sweetened and thickened milk. Like other Odia sweets, the milk to soak the Chenna is skimmed with cardamoms.

5. Chhena Gaja

Chhena Gaja is another chhena-based Odia Sweets. The base of this sweet is made from chhena, semolina, and sugar and mostly resembles with the other famous Odia Sweets such as Rasagola and Chhena Poda.

The dough of the above blends are molded in to rectangle shape in palm which is called Gaja in Odia.

Finally, the Chhena Gaja’s gets deep fried and soaked in sugar syrup. This is considered to be  one of the Odisha famous sweets

6. Chhenna Jhili/Chhena Jalebi

Sounding similar to the previous sweets, Chenna Jhili has differences in terms of the ingredients and shape. Though there are many variations, the general ingredients for this Odia sweets are Chhenna, Ghee, sugar, cardamom, and wheat flour. The dough shape is fried in a spiral flat ball shape.

The fried Jhili or Jalebis are then soaked in sugar syrup that gets boiled with saffron, cardamom and nuts as garnish props.

7. khira sagara

Khira Sagara is akin to Rasamalai. This Odia Sweet is made of tiny semi flat marble size balls of Chhena that gets boiled in sugar syrup first.

Once the balls are ready, they are soaked in thick and skimmed milk. The skimmed milk is seasoned with sugar, saffron and cardamom.

8. Khaja Pheni:

Khaja Pheni is a traditional dry sweet dish & a part of Chhapan Bhog of Shri Mandira Puri, Odisha. Pheni is a Layered deep-fried fritter made of wheat flour & soaked in sugar syrup. This is a perfect snack-time favorite or afternoon filler for anyone & everyone.

Ingredients Used: Refine Flour, Rice Flour, Sugar, Edible Oil

9. Khasta Gaja

Khasta Gaja is a traditional Odia sweet popular across India and beyond. The diced shape delicacy is made of refined flour, fried with pro-health rice bran oil, and soaked in sugar syrup. Odia Khasta Gaja is seasoned with elaichi & fennels to give a nice flavour while savouring to crave for once more movement for the sweet lovers.

10. Pahala Rasagola (Rasgulla)

The word “Rasagola” traces its origin to the state of Odisha in India. It is one of the favorite sweet dishes from the Chhapan Bhog offerings of Shri Jagannath Puri. Unlike other Rasgullas available in the market, Odia Rasagola is known to be a melt in mouth dessert delight. These sweet balls are made of pure chhena skimmed from A2 cow milk & boiled in sugar/jaggery syrup to get that desired level of tenderness in every bite

Courtesy: Rasabali Prustha