Puli pitha makes me nostalgic. It reminds of my grandmother (my father’s mother), bantering with my cousins about the pitha (because of the special shape of its filling!) and reminds me of winter in Bangladesh! It was a staple in Christmas, that my grandmother used to make a tons of puli pitha, stored in a jar filled with muri (puffed rice) and if we were lucky, we could eat them when fresh and warm! Now both of my father and my grandmother have left their earthly bodies but this pitha will always be one of the dearest food to remember them forever.

Puli pitha are made in different ways – steamed, fried or soaked in milk. It is basically a wheat or rice flour bun(fried/steamed) with a sweet coconut filling. Both fried and steamed puli pitha are naturally vegan , so today I am going to try the fried version of it. One of the best thing about fried puli pitha is that it can be stored for over a month, so you can make a big batch of it and enjoy throughout the whole winter (well, at least Bangladeshi winter because God knows when actually do winter leave Denmark -_-)!

As the title says, we need coconut for the filling. To make the filling sweeter, you can either use jaggery or sugar or even both! And to make the bun for the pitha, we need flour, semolina, oil(a lot) and some salt and water! (Sorry I forgot to add semolina in the photo).

First, I added all dry ingredients like flour, semolina and salt in a large bowl. Then I added a tea spoon of cooking oil to the dry mix and kneaded well until the dry mix can form a shape when pressed in palm, like in the picture.

Then I added water at room temperature little bit at a time, until the dough forms into a non-sticky soft dough. I kept the dough at rest for 15 minutes.

While the dough is resting, in a pan I added the jaggery, sugar and coconut (I used frozen coconut) and stirred until coconuts are completely dried up and becomes sticky. You can also make the filling only with coconut.

Once the filling is cooled down to bearable hot, I made a shape like this with the help of my palm..(which we, cousings used to banter about!). Tell me what does it remind you in the comment.

After 15 minutes of resting, I took the dough and gave a light knead again. Then I cut the dough into small pieces and rolled into a very thin flat bread shape.

Then I put the filling inside the rolled dough and closed it to make a half moon shape. Then I tapped on the edges so that the bun is closed and filling does go out while frying. You can also make a design like dumplings.

Now its time to fry. The key rule is to fry the pitha into low to medium heat for a longer time, until the outer layer got golden in color. Please do not put many pitha in the oil at the same time, because it will reduce the temperature of the oil.

After frying put the pitha on a kitchen towel to soak extra oil. To keep them crunchy, you can stored them in airtight box with some Muri (puffed rice) in it. This pitha should be taste as crunchy, flaky yet soft, sweet on the inside yet not too sweet to ruin the taste bud! Overall, you should try this pitha at least once and taste the love!

Recipe: Fried Puli pitha (4 person)

Ingredients: For bun: Wheat flour – 1 Cup Semolina – 1/4 cup Salt – 1 tsp Oil – 1.5 tsp For filling: Frozen Coconut- 1 cup Sugar – 4 tsp Jaggery/Gur – 1/4 cup Oil to fry

Procedure: 1. Mix all dry ingredients – flour, salt and semolina in a bowl. 2. Add 1 tsp oil and mix with flour mix with help of fingers. Add more oil if needed and mix until the flour form a shape when pressed in palm. 3. Add room temperature water to the flour mix to form a dough. Add water little bit a time and knead until forms a semi soft dough. Keep the dough in rest for 15minutes. 4. In a pan, add sugar, jaggery and coconut and continue to stir until it gets sticky. Cool down to bearable temperature and make some pointy shaped cylinder and keep them on side 5. Take the rested dough and lightly knead. Then divide into small balls. Roll the ball in a thin, round layer and put one coconut filling. Carefully close the bun in a half moon shape with a help of the tip of your finger. You can make some pretty design too. 5. Deep fry the buns in medium hot oil until they are golden in colour. Put the hot pitha on paper towel to soak excess oil. Serve with tea as a perfect Bangladeshi winter breakfast or Christmas snack!