New cookbook recreates ancient Odisha recipes in modern kitchen

A new cookbook is full of recipes that are very, very old, from a place in India called Odisha.

The recipes were used during big festivals and at temples long ago.

The book helps people make these special foods in their modern kitchens today.

One recipe is ambila, a sweet and sour vegetable stew that has bamboo shoots and yoghurt.

It is made during Nuakhai, a festival celebrating the harvest in Western Odisha.

Another recipe is chuna machha chadchadi, a spicy curry with small fish and potatoes.

There is also rasabali, a sweet made of fried cottage cheese soaked in sweet milk.

Rasabali is served at the Baladevjew Temple in Kendrapara as prasad, which is special food given as an offering.

The book, written by Sandip Das, Alka Jena, and Pallavi Das, shares Odisha's food traditions passed down from temples to homes.