Mishti / Ranga Alur Pithe

Mishti / Ranga Alur Pithe

শুভ পৌষ সংক্রান্তি উপল্খে সবাইকে আন্তরীক শুভেচ্ছা....

Sankranti is a harvest festival celebrated all over in India on the 14th or 15th of January and since this is a harvest festival, different parts of India make various delicacies with seasonal produce.

Bengalis celebrate the winter harvest of rice with a festival called Nabanna (new rice) or Poush Parban where special pithe(sweets) made with the rice, jiggery, milk, cream, sweet potatoes and coconut in different combination. Traditionally pithe is eaten on Posh or Makar Sankranti, the last day of the Poush month. The variety, art and creativity in pithey making is truly incredible and has a rich heritage in both Bengals (East & West).

This is Ranga aloor pithe (sweet potato balls / dumpling) one of my favorite pithe made with sweet potato, coconut, flour, sugar and  fried and then dunked into a sugar syrup which has been flavored with cardamoms powder.

Ingredients:

2 - 3 medium sized Sweet Potatoes (1 cup when boiled and mashed)

2 - 3 tbsp All Purpose Flour / Maida

1 tbsp Rice Flour

1 cup Grated Fresh Coconut

1/3 cup Powdered sugar

 For the Syrup:

6 tbsp Sugar / 6 tbsp Jaggery, powdered

1 1/2 cups Water

1/8 tsp Cardamom Powder

Method:

Boil the sweet potatoes until soft. Peel and mash them until smooth.

Add the rice flour and maida to the mashed sweet potatoes and knead it well to form a smooth dough. The dough should be soft and non sticky.

Divide the dough into equal small balls (Gulab jamun shape) and set aside. Repeat with remaining dough. Until you deep fry the stuffed dough, keep them covered to avoid drying.

To make the syrup, combine the sugar / jaggery and water in a vessel and stir until sugar / jaggery dissolves completely.

Add the cardamom powder and let it boil on a low-medium flame for 10 minutes. Turn off the flame and keep the syrup warm.

The syrup should not be too hot or cold when you add the fried sweet potatoes to it.

Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Deep fry the stuffed pulis over a medium flame until golden brown color.

Remove from the oil and immediately drop them into the warm syrup. Let them soak in the warm syrup for 20 minutes or sometime. Serve warm or cold.
Author : Manna Majumder
Recipe By : Tapasi Dhar
You can vist FB page - https://www.facebook.com/bengalikadai