DUDH PULI PITHE

As I said in my previous blog post that I would be sharing the recipe of Dudh Puli Pithey for you. It is a traditional Bengali dessert mainly made on the day of Poush Sankranti. This is basically a dumpling made up of rice flour and filled with jaggery-coconut mixture. Instead of steaming the dumplings, it is boiled in Kheer or reduced milk. 

It is a very common dessert among the Bengalis and every household prepares it on Poush Sankranti. There are many versions of making this dessert. You may use Nolen Gur (Date Palm Jaggery), sugar or condensed milk. But trust me, the true flavors come out only when it is prepared with Nolen Gur. As a child, I always wanted my Dida to make this recipe whenever I went to her house. Just like the previous one, I learnt this recipe also from my Dida. 

It is not much difficult to prepare these at home. So you can just gather the ingredients and give it a try today on an auspicious Poush Sankranti occasion.

Happy Makar Sankranti to all!!!

Recipe

Yields: 10-12 pulis

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 45 mins

What you need?

For the Pur (Filling):

• 1 cup Coconut (grated)
• 1/2 cup Date Palm Jaggery 

For the Puli (Shell):

• 250 gm rice Flour
• Hot water (for kneading the dough)

For the Kheer: 

• 1 litre Milk
• 1/2 cup Date Palm Jaggery

How to make it?

The Pur (Filling):

• Take a pan and heat it on a medium flame. 
• Add the grated coconut to it and dry roast it for 2 mins.
• Add the Jaggery into the coconut and allow it to melt.
• When the jaggery melts, keep stirring the mixture so that the coconut and jaggery is mixed properly. 
• When you notice that the mixture has lefts the sides of the pan, then you can turn of the gas and allow the mixture to cool.

The outer shell:

• Take a pan or a wok and heat it on medium flame. 
• Add the rice flour in it and stir it for 4-5 minutes. 
• Transfer the hot rice flour in a bowl and add hot water to it little by little. 
• While you are pouring the water with one hand, make sure that you are stirring the mixture with the other hand. 
• Knead the dough very well and then make small balls out of it. The dough needs to be soft but not sticky. 
• Cover the dough with a cloth or a clingfilm for sometime.

The Puli (Dumplings):

• Take one small ball of the dough in your hand and then put in in your palm. Press it lightly so that it gets flattened into a circular shape. 
• Put the filling in the middle of the circle and then seal the ends of the two opposite sides.
• Roll it once within your hands and give it a shape of a spindle. 
• Do the same with all the small balls of the dough and your pulis will be ready. 

For the Kheer: 

• In a heavy bottomed pan. boil the milk and let it simmer till its reduced to half of the original volume. 
• Once the milk gets reduced, put the Pulis in it one by one and allow them to cook for sometime. You will notice that the Pulis will come up to the surface of the milk.
• At that time, add the Jaggery into the milk. Make sure that the gas is in low flame or the milk would get curdled. 
• Cook for 5 more minutes after the jaggery is added and keep stirring. Take care that the pulis do not break. 
• Turn of the gas and the dish is ready to serve. You can serve it hot or you may bring it to normal temperature and then serve it. You may also serve it cold, but sometimes it tends to become a bit hard. 

P.S:

• The shell must be medium thin. It must not be very thick as it tends to become really hard, nor should it be very thin as that is prone to breakage.