Cheeses of Pahala
A strip of roadside sweet shops on the highway near Bhubaneswar, known across Odisha for its brown, soft rasagola.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: October to February; Rasagola Dibasa falls in July.
Pahala is a village on the national highway between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, and one of the best-known names in Odia sweets. Dozens of small shops line the road, each with vats of chhena and pans of syrup. Pahala rasagola is softer and often more creamy brown than the white Bengali kind, and the stop is a ritual for people travelling between the two cities.
Chhena on the highway
The shops here make their chhena each day from the milk of nearby villages, split with whey or lime and drained in cloth. It is kneaded smooth and rolled into balls for rasagola, shaped into rings and fried for chhena jhili, or baked for chhena poda. In 2019 Odisha received a geographical indication for Odisha rasagola, and Pahala is one of its most visited homes.
Rasagola and Jagannath
In Odisha the rasagola is tied to the Jagannath temple at Puri, where it is offered on Niladri Bije, the day Jagannath returns to the temple after the Rath Yatra. That day is now kept across the state as Rasagola Dibasa. Families buy rasagola in earthen pots, and many people stop at Pahala on their way to and from the coast.
A trail idea for Pahala
- Pahala highway shops Try rasagola warm from the pan and a piece of chhena poda.
- Chhena jhili Taste the fried chhena rings sold at many of the same stalls.
- Old Bhubaneswar temples Visit the Lingaraj temple area, a short drive south.
- Cuttack Continue north to the old city on the Mahanadi.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Bhubaneswar" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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