Makarsankranti is a festival which ends the harvest season and is also known as the posh sankranti in west Bengal. Patishapta...pancakes made with rice flour with a filling of coconut and jaggery is must in the bengali households along with "Pithe"... a sort of dumplings with coconut or sesame seeds and jaggery filling...lovely. I have seen my mother and grand mother making rice flour from scratch....soaking up rice and boiling it a little for the skins to come out easily...grinding them manually for long hours...thank god I can just cut the packet with a pair of scissors and use them straight from the packet.After much thought between Pithe and Patishapta, I finally decided to make patishapta to celebrate sankranti this year. Well, as per my hubby it was not good as my mother in law's but were delicious in a different way. So here is my version of "Patishapta".
Ingredients:
For the filling
2 Cups of grated coconut ( I used the frozen grated coconut from a Srilankan shop
1 Cup Jaggery
1 Cup of grated Khoya ( dried and solidified whole milk...is similar to ricotta cheese)-optional
In an open sauce pan, put the jaggery. It will start melting. Add the grated coconut and keep on mixing. Add on the grated khoya and give it a good mix. It will be sticky and very hard to stir after some time of cooking. Put off the flame and let it cool.
For the pancakes
1 Cup of ground rice flour.
1/2 Cup of semolina
2 tbsp of plain flour
4-5 tbsp of light brown sugar
A pinch of salt
Veg oil for frying
A pinch of roasted sesame seeds
Water
Add all the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour in the water and give it a good mix so that no lumps in there. You might need to use your hand for this. The batter should be free flowing.
Take a non stick pan, pour in a little oil in it and spread across the pan. With the help of a ladle, pour in the batter on the frying pan and spread it evenly and quickly to make a round shape pancake. Make sure it is not very thick.
Flip to the other side after few seconds or when the side is done. You can see, it will turn into light brown.
If you wish, you can just place the filling on the uncooked side lengthwise and fold it. I prefer to flip and fry the other side too. Re flip it after few seconds and place a spoon full of filling lengthwise in the centre and fold it from both sides. Once done, take them out and place on the kitchen paper.
This recipe needs a little time specially when you have to make the pancakes one by one but it worth making once or twice a year.
Sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds on them. Serve them hot or cold. They are delicious in both ways.
To serve this, traditionally whole milk is reduced in an open sauce pan with cardamom and sugar to a very thick consistency and spread over the pancakes. You can also serve them with condensed milk or maple syrup or even simple syrup. You need to a bit careful about the sugar content though.
A little tip: Once the batter is spread on the frying pan, you can cover it for a soft crepe.
Happy Cooking!!!
