Sunday, January 14, 2018

Poush Sankranti r Pithe

Pithe,is reminiscent of the times when paddy was harvested in the months of December-January and the new crop was celebrated by making dishes that used rice, date palm jaggery(khejur gur also collected in the winter months) and coconutPoush Parbon or Nabanno was a celebration of the new crop of rice, which was the mainstay for the then agrarian society. We have moved many years forward from those times where rice is now GMO and harvested multiple times and grated coconut can be found in the frozen aisles of grocery stores. Yet, we still take the effort to celebrate poush-parbon, in our home to honor those simpler times when we revered soil and its bounty, instead of taking it for granted like we do now.

Here is a collection of few sweets, desserts made around Poush Sankranti that I have blogged about in the past years. I have tweaked the recipes and modernized them for my own good. Ideally, the sweet stuffing for the pithes and patishaptas around this time makes use of coconut, khejur gur and milk. The crepes and outer coating of puli and pithe is usually made with rice flour.



Gokul Pithe -- My all time favorite among pithes!!!Small discs of kheer-narkol (kheer and coconut cooked together) are dipped in a batter and then deep fried. These fried discs are then dunked in sugar syrup. Mmmmm!!!



Pyarakia or Gujiya -- Not necessarily in the pithe category but when filled with a coconut and kheer stuffing these empanada style pyarakias do make the Makar Sankranti cut!




Nonta Pithe --  Dumplings made with rice flour and stuffed with sweet and savory stuffing of coconut or potato-peas for savory.






Rosh Bora -- small fritters made with Urad Dal and then soaked in a thin sugar syrup



Pati Shapta -- Crepes made of all purpose flour + rice flour filled with a kheer stuffing





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3 comments:

  1. Hey! Randomly (re) visiting blogs I used to frequent during the heydays of my blogging life (2006-10). Good to see many have kept up even if visitors don’t leave comments on long-form prose any longer, do they? Clearly you have kept up the flow of goodies from the kitchen too. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey I do remember you. A look at your blog jogged my memory :-) Nope, readers don't leave comments anymore , miss those early days of blogging too :-(

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  2. Dear Sandeepa... Yours and kichukhonn's blogs have become my bible of Bengali cuisine not traditional but you don't expect perfection either..I love visiting your blogs.. It allows me to be as a mute spectator of technicolor memories..,

    Please keep writing more it not only helps in cooking but keeping smiles up as well...

    Take care and happy new year

    Kind regards,
    Ash

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