5 pithe recipes for winter: From the kitchens of Bengal
Bengali cuisine has so much variety to it, and its versatile flavors and aroma can melt any gourmet's heart. Pithe is a winter special Bengali delicacy that is prepared with date jaggery, fresh palm, milk, coconut, and scented rice flour. Usually whipped at homes in West Bengal, pithe is also enjoyed in Bihar, Odisha, and Assam. Here are five pithe recipes for winter.
Patishapta
Mix some grated coconut and jaggery, and cook the mixture. Add cardamom, and stir well. Now, combine some semolina, rice flour, maida, and milk and let it sit for 30 minutes. Pour a thin layer of the mixture into an oil-greased pan and spread it quickly. Put the jaggery filling inside, roll it and cook until light brown. Serve either hot or cold.
Dudh puli
Cook together condensed milk, toned milk, coconut, cinnamon, and cardamom. Boil water with salt. Add rice flour, mix and form a dough. Make small balls out of the dough, roll them and cut out circles. Place the coconut filling inside and seal it. Cook the dumplings in boiling milk with cinnamon, sugar, and cardamom for 10-15 minutes. Garnish with coconut shavings and serve hot.
Gokul pithe
Make sugar syrup by heating some sugar and water and allowing the mixture to cool. Fry coconut, sugar, and khoya in a pan and stir it continuously to prepare a dough. Roll the mixture into balls and flatten them. Mix some flour, water, ghee, and sodium bicarbonate. Coat the coconut-milk cakes in the prepared batter and deep-fry them in ghee. Soak in sugar syrup.
Chakli pithe
Grind soaked rice and water into a fine paste. Next, blend urad dal with water. Mix both the pastes by adding some water to prepare a batter. Add a ladle full of the batter to an oil-greased pan and quickly spread it to make it paper thin. Cook on both sides until light brown in color and fold it. Serve hot with jaggery syrup.
Chitoi pithe
Whisk together wheat flour, rice flour, salt, and water in a bowl. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes. Simmer grated jaggery in a saucepan. Pour cream, stir well, and cook for some time. Pour a spoonful of the batter into a pan sprinkled with water. Steam the pithas for two-three minutes. Pour the jaggery-cream sauce on top and serve immediately.
