By Sushmita Sengupta
Also called India’s cheesecake, Chenna Poda is an Odia sweet made with chenna that is...burnt. The word ‘Poda’ means burnt.
By 20 Century, chenna became a favourite among sweetmakers of Orissa and Bengal. Everybody was using heaps of chenna (cottage cheese) in their sweets
In 1940’s, Sudarshan Sadu, a confectioner of Nayagarh, Orissa, accidentally left sweet chenna on hot flame.
He got too occupied and forgot about the chenna for a few hours, he came back and tasted the chenna that was now charred and black on the surface.
He quite liked the taste of the dessert and developed it further and thus we got our very own cheesecake, our Chenna Poda