In biteaway view this bhapa pitha, a steamed rice cake, showed off its jaggery core. Pitha, which are native to eastern and northeastern India as well as Bangladesh, generally are prepared from rice flour or wheat flour. They can be fashioned in many shapes and sizes, filled or unfilled, savory or sweet. The variety at this event was head-spinning, though the jaggery — an unrefined sugar — might have had something to do with that, too.
Bangladeshi pitha-making contest
Public School 69, 7702 37th Ave. (77th-78th Sts.), Jackson Heights, Queens
www.Facebook.com/291526101637259/photos/a.291543408302195/554711491985384
(The 2019 event was held on December 21)