Delish winter pithas from around the country

Made with simple ingredients that are usually found in every household around the country, 'pithas' are very popular in Bangladesh year round, especially during the winter season.

As soon as we see the signature fog at daybreak, we know winter is lurking around the corner and are instantaneously reminded of cold mornings with warm pithas. 

Pithas are inseparable from the winter season in our culture. We celebrate the wintry weather  through festivals and fairs known as 'Pitha Utshob' to uphold our age old tradition as well as our deep seated love for these cosy snacks that not only warm our hands but also our hearts. 

Different parts of the country have different pithas that are unique to their own tastes, preferences and cultures. Here are five regional pitha recipes to make your winter more special.

Bibikhana Pitha from Bikrampur

Photo: Collected

Although it is called a pitha, by the look of it you can call it a cake as well. Enriched with the goodness of deshi nolen gur, this soft textured pitha is a delicacy of Bikrampur, made specially in the winter season.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rice flour
• 2 cups coconut freshly grated
• 2 cups milk (1 litre milk reduced to 2 cups)
• 1 cup nolen gur or liquid date palm jaggery
• 6 eggs whipped
• 3/4 cups ghee
• 1/4 tsp green cardamom powder
• 1 tsp black pepper coarsely ground
• Pinch salt
• Little ghee for greasing
• 2 tbsp freshly grated coconut for garnish (optional)
• 1 tbsp nolen gur or liquid date palm jaggery for drizzle (optional)

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 180 C.
• Dry roast the rice flour for 2-3 minutes. Allow the rice to release its aroma.
• Add the roasted rice flour to a bowl. Sprinkle in the salt and black pepper, mix well.
• Add the beaten eggs and milk to the rice flour, mix well with a hand whisk.
• Now add the grated coconut, jaggery, ghee and green cardamom powder. Whisk well till the coconut and jaggery got incorporated into the batter.
• Grease a shallow heatproof bowl with ghee. Gently pour the batter into a bowl, bake for
• 25-30 odd minutes or till a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. 
• Allow to rest in the oven for a further 15-20 minutes. Cool to room temperature and de-mould
• Garnish with freshly grated coconut and drizzle a little bit of nolen gur. 

Mug Pakon from Noakhali

Photo: Collected

A popular pitha from Noakhali, mug pakon is a lentil based pitha designed into exquisite shapes and dipped in the sugary syrup. Some people make it crunchy and some prefer it soft. By the beautiful patterns, many will identify this as Nokshi pitha, but Nokshi pithas are not made with moong daal and usually not soaked in syrup.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice flour/ plain flour
• 1 cup moong dal
• 2 tablespoons flour(don't need it if you are making with flour)
• 2 tablespoon ghee /butter
• 1 egg
• 2 cup sugar
• 1 cardamom clove
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Oil for deep fry

Instructions:

• Roast moong dal on slow heat until lentil is crisp and then soak dal in water for 15 minutes. Afterwards drain the water.
• Boil dal in about 3 cups of water (if you need, add more warm water). When the dal is cooking and softens up, add flour and salt. Mix well and make it dry enough to play dough.
• Turn off the heat and keep it for five minutes under a closed lid.
• Meanwhile, make sugar syrup. Take sugar, cardamom, cinnamon  in a sauce pan and one cup water, bring it to a boiling point. Turn off heat and keep syrup aside. We need lukewarm syrup.
• Knead the dough well with egg and ghee. Make your desired shape. (Traditionally roll the dough .75 cm thick, cut it and decorate it with date-thorn/toothpick ) 
• Heat oil for deep fry. Fry pitha on medium heat till it becomes golden brown on both sides.
• Take out pitha from oil and soak it in syrup for about two minutes.

Mera Pitha from Sylhet

Photo: Collected

This is more of a rice dumpling than a pitha served with different sorts of curry in Sylhet and other neighbouring districts. It has a similar texture to vapa pitha as it is also made with steam. But this simple pitha does not have any filling inside it.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of rice flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 4 cups of boiling water approximately

Instructions:

• In a heavy bottomed pan, dry roast rice flour in medium heat until you get a nice roasted flavour. It will take about 10 minutes to roast the flour. Roast in medium low heat so that the colour of the flour doesn't change. Then transfer to a mixing bowl.
• Boil four cups of water.
• Add salt to the flour and mix.
• Add the boiling water 1 cup at a time and mix with a spatula.
• Slowly add more water and mix with spatula. As you are using very hot water, you can't use your hand at this point.
• When the mixture cools a little bit , start kneading the mixture with your hand to form a dough (nor too soft or too hard)
• Knead for six to 10 minutes to make the dough smooth.
• Take a lemon size dough and make the shape of mera pitha using your palm. 
• In a steamer boil sufficient water to steam the pitha.
• Steam them for about 20 minutes. 
• Take out from the steamer and rinse them in cold water to separate the pithas from one another.

Tokti Pitha from Khulna

Photo: Collected

A traditional savoury dish of Khulna, tokti pitha is a mouthwatering local form of Barfi. The fragrant coconut mingled with cardamom and ghee creates an exquisite flavour that people can enjoy any time of the year.

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups of coconut paste
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 2 cups of sugar
• ½ tbsp cardamom powder
• 2 tbsp of flour or semolina 

Instructions:

• First fry the semolina with ghee in a pan until it's brown 
• In another pan, take sugar and water for boiling
• When it is boiled, add coconut. 
• When the sugar water mixture dries, pour the semolina mixture and take it out of the stove after five minutes. 
• Now grease a tray with ghee and keep the coconut mixture in it to a thickness of one inch. 
• When it is cold, the shape of the barfi should be cut.

Chitka Pitha from Chattogram 

Photo: Collected

This pitha is popular all around the country but mostly in the Southern area of Bangladesh. Chatgaiya people call it chitka pitha as you sprinkle the batter on the pan. The pitha  goes well with meat curry. A piping hot bowl of duck curry and the chitka pitha always takes the winter pitha experience to a new level 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup rice flour
• 2 cups lukewarm water (or little bit less)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Oil
• A non-stick pan (preferable)

Instructions 

• Make batter with rice flour, water and salt.
• Heat the pan on medium heat. When the pan is ready, add two to three drops of oil and with a paper towel spread it out.
• Dip your five fingers in batter and sprinkle batter with your fingers on the pan. Do that three times.
• Wait till it comes out a bit from the pan and fold in quarter and remove from the pan with a spatula.
• After making each pitha use paper towel to wipe the pan and use oil if needed
• Serve with beef curry or any meat curry.