Reviving winter-relishing dishes of Bengal
Sweets are proud of Bengal and immense love of sweets is always inevitable among Bengalis. Winter is incomplete without nolen gurer mishti and pithe. Because of time-consuming and hectic life schedules nowadays making pithe in one’s home is bliss. Lots can be found in the market but they are limited and expensive too. You may wonder what is pithe? Well, Pithe is a Bengali dessert or dish made during Poush Parbon (makar sankranti) or Poush Sankranti. Poush Sankranti has its cultural significance. It is the same festival known by other names in India (Bihu in Assam, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Lohri in Punjab, Makar Sankranti in UP, Bihar, Gujarat, etc.), holding exact rituals differently. Pithe is a collective term used for a specific type of dish prepared during poush sankranti, exclusively made from rice flour, which undergoes different processes for each type of pithe. In every culture of India, rice is used to prepare dishes to augment the importance of this festival.
Nowadays the market is flooded with varieties of sweets with unusual fusions with the traditional ones, each owing its history and recipe. I want to share some soul-soothing dishes that are recognized by Bengalis from both West Bengal and Bangladesh.
Patishapta is a mouthwatering sweet dish, a favorite among all Bengalis, both in West Bengal and Bangladesh. Though it is prepared especially during poush sankranti, its preparation is not restricted only to this occasion. You can have it during Eid, poila boisakh (Bengali’s new year), and puja. Patishapta could be called as rice crepes stuffed with sweetened reduced milk or desiccated coconut cooked in caramelized sugar or jaggery.
Puli pithe: If you ask me, “Tell me in short what is puli pithe?”, I would rather say, “it is our momo.” The dough of rice flour is used to give shapes of half moon, filled with a stuffing of kheer, desiccated coconut with sugar or jaggery. Alright! Kheer is not the rice pudding that you are thinking of right now. We call that dish, payesh. Kheer is khoa in bangla. Puli pithe is sweet because of its sweet stuffing. My favorite one is made by my mom, in which she made the fillings either with potato or cauliflower to balance the taste of sweetness that came from sweet pulis. They are streamed and eaten best when served hot. Besides, one of my friends told me that they do chicken or daal stuffing in the puli. In one word, you can improvise the stuffing for the puli still, the traditional one of khoa or coconut filling remains the most authentic.
Doodh puli: Bengali cannot think of Makar Sankranti without doodh puli. Doodh puli is another delicacy. The shape of this dumpling is given uniquely with the stuffing of desiccated coconut with date palm jaggery or khoa inside the outer shell, made of rice flour. Unlike the momos, they are not streamed, but instead boiled in thick and flavored milk. The sweet taste of the milk is derived from sugar or date palm jaggery, and the flavor can be enhanced by adding cardamom. In case the milk and jaggery, adding cardamom will remove the flavor of the distinct aroma of palm jaggery. If sugar is added then the addition of cardamom enriches the flavour of milk. To thicken the base milk desiccated coconut or milled rice can be supplemented.
Mung Samali: Another unique delightful dish on this list is mung samali. It is an antique dessert of Bengal. It is not well known in every house but few of them have preserved the recipe. It is similar to the pithe puli only the difference lies in the outer part of the puli. It is made from mashed boiled moong dal with rice flour to enhance the binding capacity. For taste and flavour salt, cinnamon, and black pepper powder can be added. You can add other spices to make it more flavourful or no spices at all. The stuffing is prepared of coconut with jaggery/sugar. Surprisingly, it is not streamed or boiled. It is oil-fried to give the final product to be served on a plate.
Aske pithe: Aske pithe is now lost in the crowd. It is also known by other names such as Dhaka pithe or Sora pithe. Its appearance can be compared with Idli, a South Indian dish. It is white circular rice cakes, prepared with fresh rice flour batter with salt. In contrast, Idli batter is fermented and black gram dal is also used. Aske pithe is usually eaten with jaggery molasses, koi fish curry, or lentils. It needs a special type of equipment, but today’s generation has replaced it with a tawa (pan) with a utensil as a covering lid. It is not a steamed process like idli; it is made in dry heat. Due to this cumbersome process, in recent years, it is not usually prepared at home.
Soru Chakli pithe: Soru chakli can be compared with plain Dosa. The best analogy for shoru chakli is Neer Dosa. It can be called rice crepe. It is prepared the same as patishapta except it has no stuffing. It can be made crispy or soft, generally eaten with something spicy like aloor dom or a sweet side dish like payesh. But I prefer to eat a crispy one without any side dishes.
Rosh bora: Rosh bora cannot be categorized in the pithe but it cannot be taken aside while talking about pithe. It is a syrup dessert that can be eaten any part of the year. It is prepared using black gram dal batter. A pinch of salt can be added to it. They are then deep-fried as fritters and then soaked in thin sugar or jaggery syrup. Consistency of syrup is crucial for the best taste of this dessert. Jaggery should be derived from patali gur or molasses of date palm (nolen gur). It is one of the traditional desserts among Bengalis. It is generally homemade, and rare to find in the market. If you are non-Bengali and want to eat it then you should befriend with Bengali.
Poush Sankranti is on the way, just like pithe, hope your life fills with sweetness.
