Orissa, or Odisha as its known now, is a state in the Eastern part of India. For me, Odisha is Orissa. And Orissa, to me, will always mean the magnificent Konark Sun temple and the beautiful Puri Jagannath temple.
The Puri temple pulls tens of thousands of worshippers everyday and the kitchens here work to feed them. The simple prasadam and the meal there, apparently tastes divine.
The wiki says that :The kitchen of the famous Jagannath Temple, Puri in Puri is reputed to be the largest in the world, with a thousand chefs, working around 752 wood-burning clay hearths called chulas, to feed over 10,000 people each day.
I had always associated Rasgolla with Bengal and it was a surprise that it originated in Orissa. And so did the rice kheer (payasam). I never knew that.
There is a good balance of vegetarian and non vegetarian food in the state.
Here in this post, I have put together a thali, inspired from The Turmeric Kitchen. I skipped the kheer and added a beans and potato stir fry.
Tomato khatta was the most common recipe I could find in all the Oriya thalis I came across. The common version is sweet based, which uses tomatoes and dates.
I looked around for a spicy version of the dish and finally found one. Scroll down for the recipe link.
Dahi baingan is also a bit tangy, because of the yogurt. This was a simple dish to prepare and it tasted good as well. The best of the lot was the chana dal prepared with potatoes.
Thali Idea from The Turmeric Kitchen
- Mitha Khechudi : Rice and lentils cooked together. Sugar is added for sweetness.
- Buta Dal alu tarkari : Chana dal(split gram lentils) cooked with potatoes
- Dahi Baingan : Cooked eggplants with yogurt
- Tomato Khatta : Tangy tomatoes
- Aloo beans bhaja : Potato and french beans stir fry
My Kitchen Trials 
Hey… Odia cuisine has another very famous dish. Dalma. It is a medley of veggies & Dal. It’s a very common dish in a odia household.
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Your platter looks good. And, it is Buta Dali not Buti Dali.
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Thanks for pointing it out. I changed it now :)
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the whole platter looks so stunningly beautiful Rajani.Love it
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the presentation is real neat.. nice choice of dishes.. perfect meal
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in whose world is 5 dishes a mini thali – they all look so good except the eggplant :)
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Love those eco-friendly leaf cups. The dishes look fantastic.
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Awesome spread Rajani,looks fabulous…
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Absolutely fabulaous Rajani. Love all the dishes. And you call this mini thali!!!
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Love the presentation, especially those little katoris. All the dishes look yummy!!
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Such beautifully presented dishes Rajani..It will forever be Orissa for me as well..:)..I guess this states’ cuisine got over shadowed by the bengalis, though many dishes originated from here…
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Stunning!..yes stunning is the word..i love it..simply love the presentation and the clicks!..trust me the clicks are overpowering the recipes:))
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Love your dishes in those rustic leaf cups, especially the tomato chutney image.
Even i was surprised about that rosogolla thing though I had known about the bhath payas.
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i said this to manju and would repeat here..that more than you gals i appreciate your families to support you in making elaborate alien dishes for 30 days :) this one takes the bow as it is so well presented and each dish looks pretty
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Few dishes we says Bengali comes from Orissa, actually i was like u before even Luchi doesnt belong to Bengali its seems. Oriya thali is just inviting me, well done again.
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Everything on the thali looks delicious. Nicely presented and clicked, simple yet appetizing clicks.
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each dish is better than the other!!! beautifully made
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lovely to learn more about North Eastern cuisine
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