Ranga Alur Pithe or Pantua / Coconut stuffed Sweet Potato

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.

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.

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.

Serve warm or cold.

Enjoy!

Click here for the list of  Pithe / Pitha on my blog