Orissa, or Odisha as its known now, is a state in the Eastern part of India.For me, Odisha is Orissa. And Orissa will always mean the magnificent Konark Sun temple and the beautiful Puri Jagannath temple. The Puri temple pulls tens of thousands of worshippers everyday and the kitchens here work to feed them.

The simple prasadam and the meal there, apparently tastes divine. The wiki says that :The kitchen of the famous Jagannath Temple, Puri in Puri is reputed to be the largest in the world, with a thousand chefs, working around 752 wood-burning clay hearths called chulas, to feed over 10,000 people each day. Everyone know Rasgolla with Bengal and it was a surprise that it originated in Orissa (under review). And so did the rice kheer (payasam). There is a good balance of vegetarian and non vegetarian food in the state. Tomato khatta was the most common recipe which is found in all the Oriya thalis . The common version is sweet based, which uses tomatoes and dates.

Dahi baingan is also a bit tangy, because of the yogurt.

This was a simple dish to prepare and it tasted good as well. The best of the lot was the chana dal prepared with potatoes.

• Thali Idea from The Turmeric Kitchen
• Mitha Khechudi : Rice and lentils cooked together.Sugar is added for sweetness.
• Buta Dal alu tarkari : Chana dal(split gram lentils) cooked with potatoes
• Dahi Baingan : Cooked eggplants with yogurt
• Tomato Khatta : Tangy tomatoes
• Aloo beans bhaja : Potato and french beans stir fry