Wednesday 16 January 2013

Ranga Alur Pithe or Pantua / Coconut stuffed Sweet Potato


Ranga alur pantua
Winter.
Holidays!
Pithe!
All three are synonymous to each other.

Pithe.
Traditional sweet or savoury things that are usually made with rice, coconut and jaggery.
Sometimes dals or lentils are used too.
With these few ingredients, some wonderful pithes  are lovingly made 
by the ladies of a house every winter.
The Ranga Alur Pithe or Pantua is one of them.

 During the holidays, Thamma would be extra busy.
Of course she was busy throughout the year ... what with a huge joint family to run.
But during holidays, the house brimmed with people.
Relatives of all relations ... kakimas' brothers with their families or 
Jethima's sister with her two sons. 
Or my mashis with their brood.
The house would be overflowing with people. Almost like a wedding is on.
Everyday was a celebration.
All through the day one would get hear all kinds of voices.
A mother's high pitched voice calling out to her children, ladies chattering with a lot of laughter, childern screaming out in warning when running pell-mell all across the long verandah.

The house is big. Huge.
Once you cross these sound barriers , you reach another long verandah that houses the bharaar ghor/ the store room.
And the two kitchens.
Two? Yes. One for vegetarian food too.
And from these two rooms came the most wonderful smells in the world.
All kinds of food being cooked.

And among them ... on one side there would be a small unoon/chulha .... that was used to make Pithe.
Amidst everything, Thamma made sure at least one kind of Pithe was on our plates everyday of our holidays.

ranga alur misti
My mind is a-wandering. 
More later.
I'll put in the recipe now.

To make this pithey, you can start preparing a day or two earlier.
That way you won't feel overwhelmed when you actually start making it.
I usually prepare the coconut stuffing a day or two earlier.
Boil the potatoes too and keep away.
And also the sugar syrup.
So your work gets cut down by half.All you need to do is stuff the pithes, fry and soak in the syrup.
Gets done in a jiffy.

Need: 

Sweet potatoes - I used 2 big sized ones
Maida/apf - 3 tbsp
Grated coconut 
Jaggery
Crushed cardamom / elaichi
Oil to deep fry

How to:

Sugar syrup - Boil one and a half cups of sugar in 2 cups of water till dissolved well
(No need for any thread consistency ... just thin syrup will do)

Coconut stuffing - Melt jaggery with a little water in a pan.
Add the coconut and the cardamom powder and cook well till dryish.
Remove and cool.

Pithe / Pantua -
Peel and mash the sweet potato with the maida.
Make medium sized balls, flatten on palm and stuff with a little coconut stuffing.
Cover and roll on palm to make a smooth elongated shape.
Wet your fingers with water if needed.



ranga aloor pithe
Heat enough oil in a deep kadahi.
Slowly let in the pithes and fry on low flame till brown.

Remove and soak in the sugar syrup.
PS: If you have made the syrup a day earlier, reheat it before soaking the pithes.
Leave them for a while to soak up the syrup well.

ranga alur pantua

Serve warm or cold.
Enjoy!










16 comments:

  1. I also find it less tedious by boiling and making pur on previous day. Sometimes I wonder why do we wait for one whole year to make these delicious pithes !! Amra to jojhon kushi banate pare :-) Mine are over can I dig into those soft looking pithes?

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    Replies
    1. Deepa ... true. We can make these anytime we want to. :-)
      Go on, dig in. :-)

      Delete
  2. Ami raanga alur pithe korini kokhono. Ma khub kore. Eita ekhuni kortam kintu khub mishti khaoa hoyeche kodi, eibar ektu break dite hobe !!!

    Tomar pithe dekhte ekdum perfect hoyeche

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sandeepa .. amio made these for the very first time. :-)

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  3. These look so soft and inviting. Can I come over? :)

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    Replies
    1. Mandira ... please do. You are always welcome. :-)

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  4. Sharmila! Daroon.....ami eta konodin banai ni...I make a puli pithey with ranga alu-chaaler guro with narkel pur!

    thx for the recipe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sharmishtha ... is it different from this? Do make and post it. Would love to have the recipe. I did not use chal guro as it tends to harden the pulis.

      Delete
  5. The joint family picture you painted was how it was for me too, until I was in middle school. Fun for us kids. But it must have been a lot of work for my mom, especially, as I realize it now. Never had pithe before. Sounds yum!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vani ... ours is a joint family still.:-)
      You can try this pithe ...easy and yum. the kiddos will love it. :-)

      Delete
  6. tomar thamma r kotha shune shune monay hoye I wish I met her :) I can so relate to the joint family, house full, bharar ghor etc. Ki bhalo dekhte hoyeche Sharmila. Amar ranga aloo gulo pore achey. kortei hobe. I also make the filling (or most pitheys) a day before. too much to do in one day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Soma jani na keno ... thamma sharakkhon amar moner moddhe thake. Normal ki na jani na ... bhulteo chai na. :-)
      Ektu koro na pithey ... tomar o bhalo lagbe. :-)

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  7. ki sundor likhecho Sharmila. sei dingulo chokher samne abar bheshe uthlo. pithe pantua dekhe khub lobh hochhe. eikhane mishti alu khub paoya jay, kano je mathay elona ektu pantua bananor katha, tahole poush parboner dine ektu khete partam. dekhi banie felbo eibar. ami to fresh narkel pabona. oi dessicated ta niye ese gur diye ranna kore nile kamon habe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sayantani ... na pele ar ki korbe ... korei na na. Gur melt korle emni moisture hobe. :-)

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  8. Besh nostalgic lagche tomar lekha pore. Asadharon baniyecho ranga alur pithe. Absolutely delicious and perfectly made.

    ReplyDelete


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