The Pitha Culture of Bengal

Come winter and all sorts of “Pithe” will be there to satiate us. No, you don’t have to wait for winter to arrive to savor these dessert delicacies of West Bengal, Bangladesh and some other eastern parts of India as these can be made and devoured any time of the year but as tradition has it, pithes are mainly made in the winter months, at the completion of harvesting, to celebrate the harvest festival of the new crop, called the Nabanna.

These festivities start in the Bikram month of Aghran (mid November to mid December) and continue to from a part of the “Poush Parbon”, the festival of the Bikram month of “Poush” (mid December to mid January). Climatic conditions favor one of the harvests to be held at the end of the monsoons and at this time of the year. The Bikram calendar follows the solar cycle based on the “Surya Sidhanta”, a treatise on Indian astronomy, and is 56.7 years ahead (in count) of the solar Gregorian calendar.

Pithes are cakes essentially made of rice or rice flour and in some preparations, made with wheat flour. Rice or wheat usually goes into the preparation of a pouch (called “khol”), which are stuffed with fillings (called “pur”) of grated coconuts and sometimes stuffed with sweetened vegetables. These pouches may be of different shapes – oval, oyster and flat shaped ones are the most common ones.

Generally, these pithes are fried (called pakan pithe) or steamed (bhapa pithe). Dumplings, called “puli pithe” also feature among the different varieties, which include gokul pithe, pati sapta, chitai pitha, ranga alur pithe (made of sweet potato or ranga allu), muger pulli, dudh pulli (with payesh kind of preparation of milk), and chandrapulli.

Some recipes use jaggery, date fruit juice or palm syrup to sweeten these pithes. Often different ingredients and spices like cashew, pistachio, cardamom and camphor are added to top up the flavor.

The fertile alluvial plains and delta of the rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra have rendered the region suitable for cultivation and rice is the staple crop grown in this region.

Chana Pitha

Ingredients
1 cup chenna ( cottage cheese)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon semolina
2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cardamon powder
For thickened milk
1 1 /2 litre full fat milk
1/3 - 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk powder
few strands of saffron
nuts and cardamon for garnishing

Oil for deep frying.


Method.

Boil the milk and simmer on a medium fire in a heavy bottom vessel. Make a paste of milk powder with few tablespoons of milk and add to the above milk. keep stirring on a low fire. Add sugar to the boiling milk. Stir continuously on a low fire so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of vessel. Cook until the milk is reduced to half the amount. It takes approximately 45 minutes to hour. Meanwhile drain and mash chenna, add semolina, baking soda, sugar and, cardamom powder. knead gently, make small balls and slightly flattened them. (Alternatively you can blend all of them together in the grinder).Heat oil in a wok and deep fry them on a low fire. Drain excess oil from the chana balls on a absorbent paper. Care should be taken not to over fry them.
Add them to the boiling milk. Simmer for 2 minutes and switch of the fire. Let it cool down . Garnish it with Cardamon powder and nuts

Jhal Pitha

Ingredients

For the dough:
All purpose flour - 2 cups
salt to taste
Warm water

For the filling :
Cabbage - 1 cup finely chopped
Onions - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Mushrooms - 1/2 cup
Carrot - 1 finely chopped
Salt to taste
Garam masala - 1 tsp
green chillies - 1 finely chopped ( u can reduce this according to ur taste..)
Garlic pods - 1 finely chopped
Ginger - 1 tsp finely chopped
Tabasco sauce - 1 tsp ( u can add chili sauce)
Oil - 2 tsp



Method :

Firstly we will make the dough. Take the flour in a bowl and salt and water to it. Knead it into a nice smooth dough. Keep aside.
Now we can make the filling. For the filling shred the cabbage, chop the onions, mushroom and carrot finely.
In a pan take some oil and add the chopped garlic and ginger to it. saute for 1 min and then add the chopped onions. Add the green chillies and the garam masala and saute once again.Now, add the chopped vegetables to it along with salt and the tonasco sauce and mix well. Cook for 2 minutes and ur filling is ready. U dont need to cook the vegetable too much.
Take a small amount if the dough , roll it into a small circle of 4 inch diameter and place a spoon ful of the filling in the centre of the cirle. Get all the sides of the circle to the centre and pack the filling. Do the same with the whole dough. Steam of the dumplings until they are cooked well.Serve hot with Tomato ketchup

Dal Pitha

Ingredients :
Wheat flour
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Jeera
1 tsp Saunf
1 tsp Tumerc powder
1 tsp chilli powder
2 Onion
2 Tomatoes
3 Green chillies
1 glass Toor/Arhar dal
1/2 glass Masoor dal
Salt to taste

Method :
• Make wheat dough. Let it be tough.
• Take a dough ball & roll to slightly thick roti.
• Cut small round rotis with a cutter.
• Fold each roll into a "Dal ka Dulha" as in the below pic.
• Heat oil in cooker.
• Once oil starts smoking, add mustard seeds, jeera & saunf.
• Add chopped onions & green chillies
• When onion is slightly brown, add tomatoes
• After sometime, add tumeric & chilli powder
• Let it cook still slightly meshy.
• Add washed dal & mix till all Dal is covered. Let it cook for sometime.
• Then add water & salt, & shut the cooker for 2 whistles
• Switch off the gas and one steam is off, open the lid.

Fuljhuri Pitha

Ingredients:
Rice powder 1 cup
Egg 1
Sugar ¼ cup
War water ½ cup
Oil for fry
Salt as taste


Preparation:
Take rice powder mix salt, sugar and add warm water and keep wet for 1 hour. Bit the egg in abowl and mix it with the mixture of rice powder.
Take a design of fuljhuri pitha it can easily found in market. Then take a fry pan and put it oil and make it warm and keep the design of fuljhuri in oil for 4 minute then put the design in the mixture and sread that more than half then put in to hot oil and fry the will separed from the design it self then fry it till brownie and remove from the oil.

Bibi Khan Pitha

Ingredients:
Rice powder ½ kg
Jaggery ½ kg
Egg 4
Milk 2 kg
Baking powder ½ t sp
Coconut 1
Salt as taste

Preparation:
Grind Coconut, Bit egg with egg bitter for 10 min. Boil milk in a pot and make it half. Make the milk cool. Then mix all ingredients with milk. Preheat the oven 50 degree cel. Put the mixture in a oven pot and bake it for 20 minute. Remove from the oven and cool it then cut it in triangle shape and serve

Pora Pitha

Ingredients

1 cup split Urad dal
1 cup Rice
1 cup brown sugar/jaggery
1 cup grated fresh coconut
1 teaspoon black pepper crushed
½ teaspoon cardamom powder
1 inch ginger crushed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ghee (clarified butter)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup raisins
5 to 6 pitted chopped dates
Handful of nuts (cashews, almonds, and pistachios)

Method

Soak rice and urad dal over night. Grind them to a coarse paste and set aside for 2 to 3 hours. Sieve sugar, baking powder, cardamom powder, pepper, ginger and salt. Add them to above mix.

Add coconut, raisins, date, and nuts and mix well. Grease a baking pan (22cm) with ghee and pour the batter. Preheat the oven at 180’C and bake for 30 to 40 minutes till done.
Remove and let it cool down. Slice and serve