Golap Pithe.......Edible Rose Garden

As I'm celebrating "Poush Sankranti" or "Makar Sankranti" on my blog so my posts are revolving around "Pithe". Let me just give you an idea of what this festival is all about, so basically its a major harvesting festival which is celebrated in many parts of India. As India is a very diversified country, this festival is celebrated in many regions but with different names: 

Assam==> Bhogali Bihu

Andhra Pradesh==> Makara Sankranti

Bihar, UP and Rajasthan==> Sankrat

Gujarat==> Uttrayan

Goa and Maharashtra==> Makar Sankranti

Himachal Pradesh==> Magha Saaji

Karnataka==> Suggi

Kerala==> Pongal

Punjab==> Maghi

Tamil Nadu==> Pongal
Goa and Maharashtra==> Sankrant

West Bengal==> Poush Sankranti

I believe it really doesn't matter how a same festival is being celebrated in different regions, but what counts is same level of happiness that it brings along.

We Bengalis celebrate it with "Pithe-Payesh". For those who don't know what is "Pithe" so let me introduce it to you its basically a type of cake or dimsum common in the Eastern India and Bangladesh. They are made up of rice flour or wheat flour batter (or dough), stuffed with sweet or savory ingredients and then cooked and "Payesh" is rice pudding which is made with "Nolen Gur" (date palm jaggery) available only this time of the year.

To keep the spirit up of this festival I chose a very unique dessert called "Golap Pithe". It involves not only "Cooking" but "Crafting" too and when these two combine they give a recipe which pleases your mind aesthetically.

So let's begin:

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour: 1 and 1/2 cup

2. Sugar: 2 cups

3. Milk: 1 cup

4. Ghee (clarified butter): 2 tbsp

5. Green Cardamoms(crushed): 5-6

6. Salt: 1/2 tbsp

7. Oil: for frying pithe

8. Water: 3 cups

Method:

1. In a heavy bottomed pan boil two cups of water with sugar on medium heat. Stir in between and remove the scums (if any). Once sugar is dissolved completely reduce the heat.

2. In another pan boil a cup of water with salt on medium-high heat. Once the water starts boiling add the flour and mix well with a wire whisk. Remove the mixture from heat and let it cool down.

3. Crack the egg in a bowl and beat it nicely with a fork. 

4. Add ghee, beaten egg (very little at a time) and remaining crushed cardamoms to the flour mixture. Knead well until the mixture comes together into a dough.

5. Make small balls (8-10) out of the dough. Take one ball at a time and roll it into a flat puri (bread) with your rolling pin. 

6. Now take the puri (bread) and cut a circle with the help of a cookie cutter. In the same manner make the other two puris (breads). We need three puris (breads) to make one flower.

7. Put one puri on top of the other and make three cuts leaving the center as shown in the figure. Take one part at a time and fold it inwards to form the petals. Use water to seal the edges together. Continue the process until you are done.

8. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan on medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and add the pithe. Fry them until they get a nice golden hue. Take them out on a plate lined with paper-towel. 

9. Put them in sugar syrup (the syrup should be warm enough) and let it rest for good 2-4 hours.

10. Enjoy these beautiful "Golap Pithe" with your friends and family.

Note:

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If you want the recipe in Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu (or any other language) click on the Google Translate button on the left side.