Koat Pitha / Banana Pitha

The northeast Indian state of Nagaland obviously is the land of Nagas. The Nagas were originally referred as Naka in the Burmese language, which means "People with pierced noses". The state is covered by lush mountains and has a largely monsoon climate. 

Besides the wiki link, I found some other interesting links here  and here related to food and culture of Nagaland. One interesting link here provided me an insight into the cuisine of Nagas. I could not help from reproducing that stuff below. 

"The primary occupation of the tribes was hunting and so meat became a chief component of the Naga cuisine. The meat enjoyed by them include beef, pork, fish, chicken, crabs, frog, snail, spider, insects, bee larvae, dog, cat, rat, birds, snake, spider, monkey, bear, and even elephant. Meat of dog and other wild animals are considered a delicacy. Pork meat is highly popular in this cuisine. Pork meat cooked with bamboo shoots is a popular dish of this cuisine. Smoked meat is prepared by keeping the meat above the fire or hanging on the wall of the kitchen for 2 weeks or longer, which could last for the whole year ahead. Apart from meat, bamboo shoots, lettuce, soya beans, mustard leaves, and yam leaves are also used in cooking. These ingredients are fermented and used to make various dishes. 
Each tribe has their unique dishes and the food between any two tribes is never the same. One important feature of the Naga cuisine is that the dishes are cooked by boiling the ingredients than frying. The meat is cooked using various methods - by smoking, drying or fermenting. Fermenting food is practiced in order to preserve the food. The food item is first boiled and then dried under the sun or near the fire. It is then wrapped in a banana leaf and stored for future use. 
The cuisine of Nagaland has largely remained free from influence of other cuisines. The dishes and the food have remained same over the ages, but the use of spice has been incorporated in the cooking to offer the dishes distinct taste and flavor. Chillies have an important place in naga cuisine and the nature of the food is hot and spicy. The ginger used in the Naga cuisine is spicy, aromatic and is different from the common ginger. Various local herbs and leaves are also used to spice up the dishes.
Nagas believe that certain meats have curative powers while some others are unclean and pass on their characteristics to human beings. They believe that dog meat cures pneumonia while a snake bite is cured by consuming a fluid of earthworms. Bee larvae, snails and frogs are believed to heal the skin and bones. Women are restricted from consuming monkey meat since they think that it turns them extravagant. Pregnant women are not allowed to consume bear meat since bears are not considered smart. Tigers/ leopards were not consumed as they believed that tiger was the brother of Man when the world was created."

Now let's move towards today's recipe. Koat pitha are deep fried sweet fritters prepared using rice flour and bananas. It is popular in several of the north-east Indian states including Nagaland. In fact, it is a popular dish prepared during the Assamese bihu festival. They are subtly sweet and can be put together real quick. The  recipes I found online were almost one and the same using a cup of rice flour and jaggery each and about 6 bananas. I tried a small portion since there are not many takers for sweet dishes at home. I also added some cardamom powder for flavor.

Ingredients: (yield 8 pithas)
1 big sized banana
6 tbsp rice flour 
1/4 cup powdered jaggery
Oil to fry

Method:
* Mash the bananas well in a bowl. Add the powdered jaggery to it and mix well. Take care that no jaggery lumps are present in the mixture.
* Gradually add rice flour to the mixture and make a dough.

* Heat oil in a saute pan and drop spoonfuls of batter into it.

* Fry on medium flame until golden brown, flipping in between.

* Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent towels.

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