Bhapa pitha

Step 1: Dry-roast 10 ½ oz fine rice flour in a wide pan over a low heat for 3–4 minutes, stirring, until it feels warm and smells faintly toasty but has not coloured. Tip into a bowl and cool.

Step 2: Dissolve ½ tsp salt in ½ cup warm water. Sprinkle it over the flour a spoonful at a time, rubbing it in with your fingertips, until the flour clumps when squeezed and breaks apart cleanly when poked. Push it through a coarse sieve to make it light and even. A common mistake is pouring the water in at once, which makes a paste instead of damp crumbs.

Step 3: Mix 5 ½ oz date palm jaggery (khejur gur) or other jaggery and 4 oz fresh grated coconut in a small bowl.

Step 4: Set up a steamer: a pan of water at a rolling boil with a lid that has a hole in it, or a steamer basket lined with a damp muslin cloth. Use a small bowl about 8 cm wide as a mould.

Step 5: Loosely fill the bowl halfway with flour, add a heaped spoon of the jaggery-coconut, then cover with more flour. Level lightly with your palm without pressing.

Step 6: Wrap a damp square of muslin over the bowl, flip it so the cake sits on the cloth, lift off the bowl and fold the cloth over. Steam over the boiling water for 6–8 minutes, until the cake is firm, opaque and springs back, and the jaggery has melted into a dark seam.

Step 7: Unwrap carefully and serve warm. Repeat with the rest, keeping the water at a strong boil.