Explore a No- Fry version of Ranga Alur Puli Pithe, Sweet Potato dumplings, which is a festival delicacy from Bengal. It is customary to make this dessert during the festival of Makar Sankranti which is just a few days away. This delicious dessert is an offering from Bengal. Come Sankranti or Poush Sankranti, it is the customary pithe time in the eastern part of India. Every household prepares many different varieties of pithe. Ranga Alu means sweet Potato in Bangla.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the stuffing
- 2 cups Grated fresh coconut
- 1 cup Date Palm Jaggery
- ¼ cup Coconut Milk You can use regular milk for thenon vegan version.
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
Ingredients for the shell
- 500 gms Sweet Potatoes
- 1 tbsp Rice flour
- ¼ tsp Salt
- few drops Oil (to apply onto palm while making puli)
Ingredients for the soaking syrup
- 1 cup Date Palm Jaggery
- 2 cups Water
Instructions
Prepare the stuffing
- Heat a Pan. Add grated coconut to it.
- Add milk to it and stir for a few minutes.
- Take one cup Date Palm jaggery pieces in a microwave safe container.
- Microwave for 2 minutes. The jaggery will melt.
- Strain and add this to coconut.
- Stir and keep cooking till the mixture becomes slightly thick. Don't make it too dry as otherwise it will harden once cool.
- Add cardamom powder.
- Mix and keep aside this stuffing for later use.
Prepare the Pithe
- Fill water in a pressure cooker. Or use any pan.
- Keep a steamer plate inside it.
- Keep sweet potatoes on the steamer plate.
- Put the lid on and cook for about 5 whistles or till sweet potatoes become tender.
- Peel and add steamed potatoes to a pan.
- Mash with a fork or a masher to make a smooth paste.
- Add Salt.
- Add rice flour in batches (about 2 tbsp at a time) and knead to make a soft dough.
- Make a smooth dough. Refrigerate dough for about half an hour so that it becomes slightly stiff. It will be easier to make dumplings then.
- Apply some oil on your palm and pinch a lemon sized dough ball.
- Make a dent in the center using your thumb.
- Then spread the corners using fingertips and form a round shell.
- Fill a tbsp of filling in the center and fold to form a semicircle.
- Press and seal edges.
- Roll gently between palms to form oblong pitha.
- The prepared pitha will be like this.
- Arrange prepared pithas on a plate.
- Traditionally pithas are deep fried in oil or ghee. For a healthier option, you can shallow fry by adding 2-3 tbsp of ghee to a pan.
- You can also bake pithas. To bake, arrange them on a baking tray.
- Brush with melted ghee on both sides.
- Bake in a preheated oven @425°F/ 220°C for 20 minutes on one side.
- Turn and bake again for 10 minutes.
Prepare soaking syrup
- Add 1 cup of Jaggery pieces to a Pan.
- Add 2 cups of water and heat till jaggery melts.
- Strain this to another pan.
- Cook the jaggery water for 5 minutes. There is no need to thicken it. It should remain warm.
- Add baked or shallow fried pithas to warm syrup.
- Let them be in the syrup for 5 minutes.
- Take out and serve. Add some syrup as well while serving. Garnish with any nut of your choice.
Notes
Try to steam sweet potatoes rather than boiling them. because they tend to collect water if boiled and then making dough might be difficult.
The quantity of rice flour will depend on how moist your mashed sweet potatoes are. I had to add 6 tbsp in total. But you may need less or more than that. If you refrigerate the dough, it helps to tighten it a little.