BALANGIR: It was once again that time of the year when families exchanged Sitabhog, a sweet dish unique to Balangir, as a gesture of cordial relationship among each other. Specifically made on Rath Yatra day, people from across all places here flocked the eateries to buy their share of the delicacy. Though the significance of the sweet dish being available on Rath Yatra has no specific reason, the dish is prepared by special cooks only on one day of the year and most restaurants stock it up as the demand grows high with each passing year.
The sweet delicacy takes around an hour or two of preparation time and the ingredients include khoya, maida which are mixed and made into small balls. Fried, these cheese balls are then dipped into a milk syrup specifically thickened and garnished with dry fruits. Hotels and restaurants make business of around Rs 5 lakh selling Sitabhog on just one day. Basu Sahu, a hotelier, sees heavy rush at his joint on the day, and thus engages many makers who have learnt the tricks of the trade from older ‘halwais’.
“We have been watching our elders dishing out the delicacy for years and imbibed the art from them. Needing special skills to bring out the unique taste, the ratio of ingredients should be perfect and even a single mistake can spoil the entire dish,” said Kailash Saraf, a young chef who has been preparing the dish for many hotels in the area for some years now. A customer, Manoj Kumar Mishra of Rameswar Nagar, said his family waits for Rath Yatra every year just to have a sumptuous share of the unique sweet dish. However, locals said the popularity of the dish grew so much that it is now a days being served during marriage functions and other gatherings.