Today, I will share a very simple recipe for eggless rice flour pancakes. These pancakes are soft, light, and delicious. Most importantly, they are easy to make. They are also known as Shora pitha or chitoi pitha. The shora is a round terracotta or clay mold traditionally used to make this pitha.
These rice pancakes are typically made in winter, especially around January/February when the winter harvest begins. We enjoy these shora pitha/pancakes with Nolen khejur gur (liquid date-palm jaggery), which is only available in winter. Some people soak these pancakes in a reduced and thickened milk and date jaggery sauce, a variation that my family loves!
Ingredients:
1 cup rice flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold water or as needed
Process:
Combine rice flour and salt in a bowl.
Add water and make a paste with a consistency similar to pancake batter.
Regarding the pancake preparation: As mentioned earlier, these pancakes are traditionally made in clay molds. However, if you prefer, you can use a small nonstick deep frying pan with a lid.
Properly heat the clay mold over medium heat.
Add one scoop or spoonful of batter and cover it with a clay lid. The pancakes will cook in about 3-4 minutes, depending on the size of the mold. You'll know they're done when you see small bubbles and holes in the pancakes.
Remove the pancakes from the mold and serve them hot with Nolen Gur (liquid jaggery).
