A First in my BlogLife....

This, as is evident, is not a FOOD BLOG.

This is a space where I indulge my WHIMS and WISHES...mollycoddle them and pamper them to the hilt.

While browsing through the blogosphere, I came across this food blog - Sudeshna's 'HERE I COOK' which had an event called 'HARVEST : THE FESTIVAL OF RICE'.

Suddenly a brainwave hit me and I thought 'Why not?'
I had a post on a similar topic (RAMBLINGS..) a week or so back....so why not just link it and give the recipe for the Patishaptas I successfully dished out.....

The reason why I chose to make Patishaptas on the Poush Sankranti, as I have already mentioned, was because it was the easiest of all the pitheys and I had all the ingredients at home
Patishaptas are folded Pancakes with coconut and jaggery filling (pur).

So here goes the recipe which is my contribution to 'HARVEST : THE FESTIVAL OF RICE' hosted by Sudeshna of 'HERE I COOK' :
WHAT I USED :
* 1 medium sized Coconut - freshly grated
* Patali Gur (DatePalm Jaggery) - 225gm
* Sugar- 1/2 Cup
* Flour (Maida)- 1 Cup
* Suji or Semolina - 1/2 Cup
* Rice Flour- 1/2 Cup
* Milk - 1.75 - 2 litres
Note:Khoa (dried or thickened milk) is normally used alongwith the Coconut and jaggery to make the filling. I did not have it at home and so thickened a litre of milk to half litre and mixed it while preparing the filling

HOW I PREPARED : Instructions are given in the sequence I prepared
-PATISHAPTA BATTER -Part 1:
I mixed the Suji and Rice Flour. Then soaked the mixture in adequate milk. Left it aside and got on to work on the Filling.

- PUR /FILLING :
Took the freshly grated coconut in a wok (Kadai) and added the sugar and 150 gms of jaggery. Stirred it around well. (Sugar provides the binding)
After mixing it considerably well, put the wok containing the mixture on fire and continued stirring.
Added the thickened milk gradually (I was thickening the milk on the other burner while I stirred the coconut, jaggery, sugar mixture) and NOT in one shot.
The stirring and mixing is the most important aspect of making the Pur.
I continued the stirring process for about 40minutes, till the coconut turned a rich brown and became sticky in texture.

-PATISHAPTA BATTER (Continued):Part 2
I added a spoonful of ghee to the Maida and mixed evenly.
Added this to the already milk-soaked mixture of Suji-Rice Flour. Had to mix it well as to ensure no lumps are formed. Added more milk to make the batter of medium consistency so that it spreads evenly on the tawa.
To sweeten the batter, add some broken pieces of jaggery. The batter should be of mild sweetness.

THE FRYING PROCESS:

1. I used a non-stick Tawa (a non-stick frying pan would do fine)
2. Smeared some oil/ghee (I used ghee....sinfully delightful!!) on the Hot Tawa. (I used the top of a brinjal cut horizontally, with the stalk intact..it makes the ghee smearing easy as the stalk acts as a handle)
3. Poured a ladle of batter and spread it in a circle by tilting the tawa.
4. Fried in low to medium heat to ensure the patishapta is crisp yet soft. Flipped it over.
5. Made a snakelike shape with a tablespoonful of Pur and laid it lengthwise as is shown in the pic.
6. Folded the patishapta and turned it around a bit to give a golden brown look to it.
7. Served hot!!!

Have a look at the pictures and also at the original post