BHUBANESWAR: Odisha is a land of timeless cuisines. One of them is Sarsatia, a sweet delicacy from Sambalpur.
Sarasatia is a crispy sweet resembling vermicelli. What makes it trendy is that it is made from a tree named Ganjer. Prabhulal Gupta, a maker of the delicacy from Sambalpur, owns a shop which is around 200 years old. The shop was launched by his great grandfather Beni Madhav Halwai.
Orissa POST talked to Prabhulal during his visit to Bhubaneswar to get an insight into the subject.
Prabhulal said the sweet is prepared from the resin of twigs. First the tree is scraped and its twigs are soaked in water overnight. From this, a sweet resin condenses which is mixed with raw rice powder, sugar and fried in the shape of vermicelli in oil. The people of Sambalpur have it for breakfast.
“After making a thick batter, I dip my hand into the batter and spread it in the hot oil. From VIPs to commoners, everyone is a fan of Sarsatia here. During Nuakhai, I supply around 800 plates of Sarsatia to Goddess Samalei for making Prasad which is distributed as Bhog. Every day I sell sweets worth around Rs 2,500. Here, no function is held without this sweet,” Prabhulal said.
Subodh Das, a regular at Prabhulal’s shop said, “Everyone knows Prabhulal’s shop at Buddhi Maa Galli, Kunjelpada in Sambalpur.” The famous antique collector, Anil Sahoo, is also known to be a big fan of his Sarsatia. Earlier, the trees were cheaper, but nowadays the twigs of the tree cost around Rs 300 to Rs 400.
This delicacy has been featured in the Odia Song ‘Asa Kie Khaiba Ho Aama Raja Babukna Khana’ in the movie ‘Akhi Trutiya’. There is a line in the song which says ‘Sambalpur Sarasatia Khao dhari Gina.’ It was sung by Tansen Singh and is still considered as one of the best songs in Odia movie history.
Prabhulal, his wife and son make the sweet and sell it. When asked if he has got any government help, she said, “I am trying my best to get the GI tag for Sambalpur Sarsatia, but due to lack of funds I am not able to advertise my sweets. I hope that one day the authorities will listen to my plea. Until then, I and my family will work hard to keep this delicacy alive for the food lovers of Odisha,” Prabhulal said.
Chaitali Shome, OP