I am so proud of myself...I am sooooo proud of myself..
Usually I am not so not-modest...but for this one time I will allow you to imagine me jumping up and down, hands-in-air, shouting in a girly-squeaky-irritating voice..."O my God...O my God..I did it...I did it...I am so proud of myself !!!I made "gokul-pithe".
So what?
Listen carefully. I made "GOKUL PITHE"
A thing which till date my mother has never made and my mother in law makes the best!!
A thing which till date my mother has never made and my mother in law makes the best!!
(its ok, I know that both moms are reading this post...at least I will make sure the my Mother in law surely does)
..btw, I did not actually do all that I asked you to imagine above.....;-)
..btw, I did not actually do all that I asked you to imagine above.....;-)
Jokes apart, some traditional recipes which our grandmothers and mothers made are gradually disappearing ...we do not have the time or the patience to make them these days. These recipes carry such an aura around them with either the name or the reputation or the taste or the hard work needed that people like us stay away from them. The name "gokul pithe" immediately triggers a "I cannot make it" reaction .
I was no exception. Loved to eat gokul pithe but never had the courage to make it!
...till I had this extremely inspirational conversation with my sister-in-law on the phone (after returning from work one day). The conversation touched on subjects like "bangal-ghoti" and their food habits...(will come back to the conversation in a later post)..but for the time being its enough to say that she inspired me to do what I did next....thanks Dolly.
I was no exception. Loved to eat gokul pithe but never had the courage to make it!
...till I had this extremely inspirational conversation with my sister-in-law on the phone (after returning from work one day). The conversation touched on subjects like "bangal-ghoti" and their food habits...(will come back to the conversation in a later post)..but for the time being its enough to say that she inspired me to do what I did next....thanks Dolly.
At the end of the conversation, I graduated from the "I cannot make it" to "let me give it a try"......a huge leap........
At the end of the whole adventure, I felt that we should really not lose these traditional recipes...
Today as our life is being taken over by low-carb, low-fat, health conscious, weight watchers philosophy...... such sweet breaks once in a while are absolutely necessary and it keeps the recipes alive.
At the end of the whole adventure, I felt that we should really not lose these traditional recipes...
Today as our life is being taken over by low-carb, low-fat, health conscious, weight watchers philosophy...... such sweet breaks once in a while are absolutely necessary and it keeps the recipes alive.
The project began with one phone call to the expert in Kolkata (yes, full 10 points for guessing the right answer --the MIL!). This was to get the ingredients right, the process crystal clear and the spirits high. This was followed by a dive into the kitchen stock to check if all the ingredients were available. Next I put on the "do not disturb" and "leave me alone" looks on. ( never used the looks together before this--it works better!!)
Mundane daily activities like serving the dinner to the family was performed with extreme speed, the kid was put to bed with utmost urgency (needed a lot of explanation on how mummy is going to do something very important now), the husband was settled infront of the TV (this as you correctly judged required minimum effort)....and I began my journey to crack "Mission Impossible-Gokul Pithe".
For the next three hours, the world became a blur as I mixed and mashed and stuffed and fried and worked on making these lovely golden objects called gokul pithe.
Believe me...definitely a bit of effort but the end product is such a sweet delight! Worth the trouble...
Husband loved it, son liked it , sister-in-law loved it.
The EXPERT has not tasted it yet.
;-)
Destroy all fears and march forward like below. You can do it.
Ingredients:
1. Frozen grated coconut (1 pack: 250 gms)
2. Patali gur (you can use sugar also)
3. Milk powder (used a can of NIDO powder)
4. Cardamom : 2-3 (crushed)
5. All purpose flour : 4 tbsp (maida for the batter)
6. Baking powder : 1 tsp
7. Sugar : 1 cup
8. Oil (for deep frying)
1. Mix and cook the coconut and patali gur and milk powder. Cook on high heat but be careful that it does not burn. Keep mixing. End product will be sticky.
2. Make small round balls and flatten them slightly to make pithe shapes while it is quite hot. Once dry, it hardens pretty fast...making the shapes will be difficult.
3. Make a batter with white flour, baking powder and one spoon oil.
4. Dip the pithe in the batter and fry them till golden brown.
5. Boil 1 cup sugar with 1/2 cup water till it becomes thick and sticky.Put the fried pithe in sugar syrup and get ready to eat them.
Mundane daily activities like serving the dinner to the family was performed with extreme speed, the kid was put to bed with utmost urgency (needed a lot of explanation on how mummy is going to do something very important now), the husband was settled infront of the TV (this as you correctly judged required minimum effort)....and I began my journey to crack "Mission Impossible-Gokul Pithe".
For the next three hours, the world became a blur as I mixed and mashed and stuffed and fried and worked on making these lovely golden objects called gokul pithe.
Believe me...definitely a bit of effort but the end product is such a sweet delight! Worth the trouble...
Husband loved it, son liked it , sister-in-law loved it.
The EXPERT has not tasted it yet.
;-)
Destroy all fears and march forward like below. You can do it.
Ingredients:
1. Frozen grated coconut (1 pack: 250 gms)
2. Patali gur (you can use sugar also)
3. Milk powder (used a can of NIDO powder)
4. Cardamom : 2-3 (crushed)
5. All purpose flour : 4 tbsp (maida for the batter)
6. Baking powder : 1 tsp
7. Sugar : 1 cup
8. Oil (for deep frying)
1. Mix and cook the coconut and patali gur and milk powder. Cook on high heat but be careful that it does not burn. Keep mixing. End product will be sticky.
2. Make small round balls and flatten them slightly to make pithe shapes while it is quite hot. Once dry, it hardens pretty fast...making the shapes will be difficult.
3. Make a batter with white flour, baking powder and one spoon oil.
4. Dip the pithe in the batter and fry them till golden brown.
5. Boil 1 cup sugar with 1/2 cup water till it becomes thick and sticky.Put the fried pithe in sugar syrup and get ready to eat them.
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| Step 1: Mix and cook the coconut and patali gur and milk powder |
 | ||||||||||
| Step 2: Make small round flat pithe while it is quite hot |
 |
| Step 3: Make a batter with white flour, baking powder and some oil |
 |
| Step 4: Dip the pithe in the batter and fry them |
 |
| Step 5: Put the fried pithe in sugar syrup and get ready to eat them |
