This recipe has been published by Boston Globe. Here is the link.
Makar Sankranti is an important festival on the Hindu calendar because it is a celebration of the coming of spring. It always falls on the 14th day of January. In Bengal we celebrate it as harvest festival. We prepare some traditional Bengali sweets with fresh palm or date jaggery, rice flour and coconut (which we call “Pithe” or “Pitha”).
[clickToTweet tweet=”A #Sankranti #special #traditional #bengalirecipe from #Kolkata : http://bit.ly/1Opoh9j ” quote=”Traditionally people bathe in Holy Ganges before sunrise and then pray to the God Dharma in the river bank. Many people take a dip in ‘Ganga Sagar’ (where the river meets the Bay of Bengal). The day after Sankranti, we worship to the Goddess Laxmi and a new month named ‘Magh’ starts. ” theme=”style1″]
I live in Boston and spring is nowhere close. It started snowing from last week and the temperature is around 20F (-6C) all the time. So I have no reason to celebrate Makar Sankranti, but when we were coming from India, my parents packed M a pound of sweets. They told me not to touch any of his sweets because it’s his favorite. But he was willing to trade a few of them for these sweet dumplings.
When we were visiting Mum she was making “pithe” for my husband. When Matthew saw them he named them “Sweet dumplings”. The filling is made with coconut and jaggery/sugar and stuffed in a rice flour dough. After folding we steam them for a few minutes. These sweet dumplings became his favorite and he has been asking me to make some since returning so I promised him I will make them during Makar Sankranti. This pithe recipe is entirely from my mum.
I wish everyone a happy Makar “pithe” sankranti!
Recipe for Sweet Coconut Dumplings
Serves 6
Filling
1. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the sugar and milk. Heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until the sugar dissolves.
2. Add the coconut and turn the heat to medium-high. Simmer, stirring constantly, for 6 to 7 minutes, or until the mixture does not stick to pan anymore. Remove from the heat; cool.
Dumplings
- In a mixing bowl, combine the rice flour and hot water, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together to form a dough. Cool until you can handle the dough, but it isn’t cold. Knead it well.
- Break off a 1-inch piece of dough and shape it into a ball. Working quick, so the dough does not become hard, shape the remaining dough into balls. You should have 24.
- Using 1 ball of dough at time, set it in your palm and press it between your palms to shape it into a round disk. Press it with your fingers to make it thin. Put 1 teaspoon of the filling in the middle. Press three sides together to make tricornered dumplings, sealing the edges with your fingers. Continue shaping until all the dough and the filling is used.
- In a saucepan fitted with a steamer insert and water, bring the water to boil. Add 6 dumplings and cover the pan. Steam for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and steam the remaining dumplings in batches. Serve warm.
Wow!!! What a yummy dumplings we call it kolukattai in our language..Loved the pics really ..
Thank you 🙂
Cannot wait to try them!!!
Please do 😉