Introduction
Letha is one of the most liked delicacies of western Odisha. It is a stew of vegetables like bottle gourd, pumpkin, brinjal, tomato, raw bananas, and a lot other vegetables. The dish also has variations where, in monsoon months, shredded and boiled bamboo shoots (locally known as kaddi) is added to the stew.
The dish is cooked slowly on a low flame for at least one and a half hour before serving it with rice.
Ingredients
Tempering
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds (sarso)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
- 1 to 2 whole dried red chillies
- 1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds (saunf)
- Half teaspoon nigella seeds (kalonji/kala jeera)
- Sun-dried raw mangoes (aamchur) for tanginess
- 1 bay leaf
- Garlic Cloves 4-5
- One inch of Ginger
For winter months, you could add the following ingredients for additional taste.
- Whole crushed black pepper 4-5
- Cloves 1-2
Spices
- Turmeric powder
- Red chilli powder
Vegetables
- Bottle gourd
- Pumpkin
- Raw Banana
- Brinjal/Eggplant
- Tomatoes
- Carrot
- Okra (ladyfinger)
- Potatoes (optional)
Please note that there is no fixed quantity or measure of vegetables, just try to add 100 grams of each with 1 tomato for the whole dish.
Most Important Ingredient: Bamboo shoot adds a whole new dimension of taste and texture to the dish.
Cooking Recipe
- Add the tempering one by one to a small quantity of oil. Let them crackle but don’t allow them to burn, or else it will spoil the taste.
- Chop all the vegetables in half-inch pieces and put them in the oil. Toss them after every 5 mins to ensure an even cooking for all vegetables.
- Cook the vegetables in a covered pot for at least 30 mins on very low flame. This helps the flavour to develop.
- Add turmeric powder and red chilli powder.
- Add enough water so that even if it is allowed to cook for 1 hour, the dish would still be soupy-like.
- Leave the dish on a low flame.
- After one hour, add boiled and shredded bamboo shoots.
- Boil the bamboo shoots beforehand with a pinch of salt and a pinch of turmeric.
- Let everything simmer for 10 more minutes.
- Add aamchur powder or shredded pieces.
- Let the dish cook for another 10 minutes to let the aamchur develop the tanginess in the dish.
Serve with hot rice. The dish can be eaten with any other main course like Roti, Paratha, or even Bread but it tastes best with Rice, which is also the staple food of Western Odisha.
