Poush sankranti and moong dal er pithe recipe

Poush Sankranti is a festival in the state of Bengal which starts the end of harvesting time for the farmers. Poush and Magh are the two months in Bengal which depict the Winter season. The Poush Sankranti is celebrated on the last date of “Poush” month and is considered as an auspicious day for the Hindus..With the new crop of rice various dishes mainly sweets are made. They are known as pithe. All the ingredients are procured from the local fresh yields. Apart from rice ingredients like lentils, yam, sweet potatoes and fresh date jaggery is used to make aromatic dishes.I have faint but beautiful memories about this festival from childhood when my mom,aunts ,grand mom together used to make varieties of “pithe” together and we all children would relish it. Some of the traditional sweet from Bengal to be relished are:-

Chushi pithar payesh :

This is a traditional sweet treat made by cooking rice spindles called “choshi” or “chushi” in milk. The rice flour is prepared fresh grounded from the new harvested rice  and then cooked to prepare a soft dough. small spindle like shapes are made from the soft rice dough and kept in the sun for a duration of 1 or 2 days for drying. It is a tedious process and rarely prepared in the   nuclear families and busy households now. Sometimes we use aromatic rice like “Gobindo bhog”, and they smell heavenly.

Click for the recipe.

Sora pithe

Prepared from rice flour and 1/4th semolina which gives softness to the texture , these are cooked on a clay pot called “sora” . I had seen these being prepared on a clay oven called “unoon” , and the flavors are still fresh in my mouth. They are salty and not soft as idlies and they are traditionally like that. They have to be eaten by dunking the pieces in liquid jaggery (Nolen gur), truly heaven. I do not have a clay oven nor a clay “sora”  and so I had no other alternative but to prepare it on gas oven in an aluminium skillet.

Dudh Puli :

This is another variety of dumpling with soft rice casing engulfing a delicious stuffing of coconut and jaggery . The dumplings are then boiled in milk flavored with date palm jaggery which add both sweetness and aroma.

Patishapta :

Traditionally prepared with rice flour , these crapes are filled with thickened  and reduced sweetened milk called kheer or sometimes with sweetened coconut. Using rice flour makes these “pithe” little tough in texture ,instead the modern way is to use a mixture of semolina and wheat flour. They can be sweetened with sugar or with date palm jaggery or nolen gur which gives a light brown color and rom to the crapes.

Click here to see the recipe

Malpua:

This is a  traditional sweet popular in all the states of India and has an enormous number of varieties . But the one I have grown up with and relish are made with semolina and flour ,very fluffy and juice dunked in sugar syrup ,mouthwatering and delicious . I used to see them stacked on the street side shops and thankfully my mom used to prepare at home.

Click here to see recipe

Moog daler bhaja pithe :

It is a difficult dish to get right at the first chance but it has exotic unique flavor and taste which you will definitely not forget. The flavor specially comes from roasted Moong dal which gives out a divine earthy aroma when roasted. Then it is boiled with just adequate water enough to make a dough. Mind it! if water becomes more ,you cant go ahead and make this pitha. The Moong dal is gluten free difficult to hold together, so we mix rice flour, some people do mix refined flour too. it makes the job easy but too much of  mixing can make this pitha hard, not crispy. It can be served hot as a starter after deep frying in mustard oil or dipped in sugar syrup of one string consistency.

Recipe Ingredients

• 1 cup Moong dal
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup sugar
• 200 gms mawa
• 1 cup sugar for the syrup
• 1 cup mustard oil for frying

Method

The casing

• Roast moong dal till it becomes light brown in color and leaves a beautiful aroma
• Wash the lentils and boil with just enough water to soak the dal.
• When the lentils have become tender mix rice flour and mash with your palms.
• Knead well to form a soft dough.

The filling

• Stir coconut sugar and milk together in the pan till the sugar melts.
• Add mawa and cook till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
• Make small spindles out of the filling and keep aside.

Assembling

•  Heat mustard oil till it reaches smoking point.
• check first adding a small ball in the mustard oil to see whether it holds or not.
• If it disintegrates add some more rice flour to the dough and  knead again.
• Make small discs out of the dough .
• Place a filling inside and wrap the dough to cover it completely giving it an oval shape.
• dip your finger in water and smooth en the covering  filling the cracks.
• Make a oval shaped  dumpling.
• Fry this dumpling in mustard oil on medium flame , till it is cooked completely crispy.

Sugar syrup

• Boil sugar and water together till it forms a thick syrup of one string consistency.
• Dip these dumplings in sugar syrup and serve hot.

Print

Moog Dal er Pitha (Moong Dal dumplings)

The dumpling is made of lentils mixed with rice flour, It can be served hot as a starter after deep frying in mustard oil or dipped in sugar syrup of one string consistency.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Bengali, Indian

Keyword chef indrani sen, moong dal puli pitha, moong daler puli, Pitha, poush sankranti, poush sankranti 2019, poush sankranti and makar sankranti, poush sankranti recipes, puli pitha bangla recipe, puli pitha recipe bengali

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings 5

Author indrani

Ingredients

Recipe Ingredients

• 1 cup Moong dal
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup sugar
• 200 gms mawa
• 1 cup sugar for the syrup

READ  Egg biryani

Instructions

The casing

1. Roast moong dal till it becomes light brown in color and leaves a beautiful aroma
2. Wash the lentils and boil with just enough water to soak the dal.
3. When the lentils have become tender mix rice flour and mash with your palms.
4. Knead well to form a soft dough.

The filling

1. Stir coconut sugar and milk together in the pan till the sugar melts.
2. Add mawa and cook till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
3. Make small spindles out of the filling and keep aside.

Assembling

1. Heat mustard oil till it reaches smoking point.
2. check first adding a small ball in the mustard oil to see whether it holds or not.
3. If it disintegrates add some more rice flour to the dough and  knead again.
4. Make small discs out of the dough .
5. Place a filling inside and wrap the dough to cover it completely giving it an oval shape.
6. dip your finger in water and smooth en the covering  filling the cracks.
7. Make a oval shaped  dumpling.
8. Fry this dumpling in mustard oil on medium flame , till it is cooked completely crispy.

Sugar syrup

1. Boil sugar and water together till it forms a thick syrup of one string consistency.
2. Dip these dumplings in sugar syrup and serve hot.

Recipe Video

Some Links for the web:

• PITHE PULI | POUSH/MAKAR SANKRANTI | POUSH PARBON SPECIAL RECIPES

• Top 10 Makar Sankranti recipes to add flavour to the celebrations

• Poush Sankranti Recipes – 13 Delicious Makar Sankranti Recipes

• Poush Parbon

(1649)

Summary

Title

Moong Dal er Pitha

Description

This video is about preparing moong dal dumplings with a sweet coconut filling. This is for the celebration of rice harvest festival in Bengal called Poush Sankranti