Til Pithaতিল পিঠা
⏱ Prep 480m🍳 Cook 30m🍽 Serves 12🌿 Vegetarian
Video: Sanjeev Kapoor Khazana (YouTube)
Til Pitha is an iconic Assamese festival sweet, made during Bihu to welcome the harvest season. Wafer-thin rice crepes are rolled around a warm, crumbly filling of roasted black sesame and jaggery, giving a combination of textures — delicate outside, richly fragrant inside. They cool into slender cylinders that taste equally good freshly made or eaten the next morning with tea.
📍 Make it in Plano
This recipe is the same everywhere — but where you buy the ingredients and eat the dish is local to you.
Finding Desi spots near Plano…
Ingredients
- For the rice batter
- ▪sona masoori or any short-grain rice, soaked overnight2 cups
- ▪saltpinch
- ▪water (for grinding batter)as needed
- For the til-gur filling
- ▪black sesame seeds (kalo til), dry-roasted1 cup
- ▪jaggery / gur (nolen gur if available), coarsely grated¾ cup
- ▪green cardamom, ground½ tsp
- ▪dry-roasted grated coconut (optional but traditional)3 tbsp
🌍 Cooking abroad? Substitutions
- If grinding soaked rice feels laborious, fine rice flour (chawal ka atta) works as a shortcut. Mix 2 cups rice flour with enough water to make a thin, pourable batter and let it rest 20 minutes before cooking; the texture is slightly smoother than stone-ground.
- Nolen gur (date palm jaggery) gives Til Pitha its distinctive caramel-like aroma. Outside Bengal and Assam it can be hard to find; any good-quality gur or raw jaggery block works well. Dark palm sugar or piloncillo (Mexican raw cane sugar) is the closest diaspora substitute.
- Black sesame (til) is sold at every Indian grocery store worldwide and at many health-food and Asian supermarkets. In a pinch, white sesame seeds can be used — the flavour is milder and less nutty, but the texture and sweetness carry the dish.
Method
- 1Drain the soaked rice and grind in a wet grinder or blender with just enough water to make a very smooth, thin batter (thinner than dosa batter). Add a pinch of salt.
- 2Dry-roast the black sesame seeds in a heavy pan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and just beginning to pop; cool for 5 minutes.
- 3Pulse the roasted sesame with jaggery and cardamom in a food processor to a coarse, crumbly mixture — not a paste. Stir in the coconut if using.
- 4Heat a flat non-stick tawa or cast-iron griddle over medium heat and lightly wipe with an oiled cloth.
- 5Pour a small ladle of batter onto the centre and spread quickly in a thin circle about 8 inches across; the layer should be nearly translucent.
- 6After 30-45 seconds, when the edges just begin to dry and leave the pan, scatter 2 tablespoons of the sesame-jaggery filling in a line along the bottom third of the crepe.
- 7Immediately roll the crepe tightly from the filled edge upward into a neat cylinder while it is still warm and pliable; press the seam lightly to seal.
- 8Slide onto a plate and repeat. Til Pitha can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.
A Desi.Net original recipe · part of our Indian Cuisine library. Confirm details and adjust to taste.