RCI Bengal: Patishapta -- Pancakes with Coconut Filling

Happy Ugadi everyone! Traditionally my amma is around for us to gather together and celebrate Kannada ugadi with lots of good food and fun. Unfortunately my mom is in India at the moment and we are left to our own devices to celebrate. My first real taste of Bengali sweets in West Bengal was at Bimala Sweet Shop in Kharagpur (KGP). I went to KGP to visit my cousin and aunty. You know how you imagine a city to be after many years of hearing about it? Well, KGP was nothing like I imagined. It was quiet, lush and green (I went in September) and had the universal college town feel to it. The houses had rambling vines of creepers on the fences and there was not that much car traffic in town. Mostly scooters and bicycles. My cousin let me borrow her bicycle and we spent many afternoons cycling to and from various shops and one that stands out in memory is Bimalas. I probably ate 3 to 4 rasmalais everyday there. I had no care in the world about my waist or caloric count. It was pure heavenly creamy bliss. Scaring all the engineers at IIT with my wild outfits and crazy cycling was the second hobby. Good times!

Anyway, why I went down memory lane was to remind myself of the food choice for RCI Bengal being hosted by lovely Sandeepa over at Bong Mom's Cookbook. I wanted to create a sweet for Ugadi, something simple, something rich, and most importantly, no major grinding of course. :)

I got the recipe for Patishapta in my one and only Bangla Cookbook -- Bangla Ranna by Minakshie DasGupta. I was drawn to it for several reasons. One I had all the ingredients at home, two, it reminded me of Kai Holige (sweet poran poli, similar but different) and finally, I realized after tasting it it was very similar to the street vendors version of coconut pancakes in Southern Thailand! So for this special New Years day, here is some bengali sweets.

Patishapta Recipe

For the batter:

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1/2 Cup Rice Flour
• 250 ml Milk
• 1/8 tsp soda bicarbonate

Mix all of the above and let it rest for about 1/2 hour.

For the filling:

• 1 cup shredded coconut (I used frozen)
• 1/2 cup condensed milk
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup almond slivers
• 1 tsp ghee

Take a saute pan and heat to medium. Add ghee and saute raisins and almonds till raisins puff up golden and almond slivers slightly brown. Add frozen coconut to the raisins and nuts as well as condensed milk and let the entire filling come together into one thick mass. ~ 5 minutes. Take care not to burn the coconut. Take it out of the pan and let it cool.

To put it all together:Take a 6 inch non-stick pan and grease liberally with some ghee. Take couple tablespoons of the batter and dollop into the pan. Spread out the batter till its thin (almost crepe or dosa like). Let it cook and brown on one side. Add 1 large heaping teaspoon on top of the pancake and fold the pancake over to cover the filling. Set aside. Make rest of the pancakes with remaining batter and filling. Make sure to continue to grease the pan between pancakes.

To serve: Serve warm or room temperature with additional raisins and almonds as garnish. For even more sweet stickiness, you can drizzle some leftover condensed milk over the pancakes.

Verdict? My husband and kids loved this simple sweet treat. S mentioned that it reminded him of his grandma's Patishaptas. Thats a compliment for sure. Next time, I will add some cardamom powder to the filling. I missed it for sure. Weird that the recipe in the book didn't call for any!

Asha had the same idea for dessert for RCI Bengal! But even though we used the same book/author, the versions of Patishapta is different! How interesting.

Thank you Sandeepa for hosting and allowing me to contribute!

A Triathlon, a Trip and Tasty Goli Bajes!

Golden Goli Bajes with ketchup at Orcas Island, San Juans in the Pacific Northwest

I have been extremely busy these past few weeks and this post has been in my drafts way too long. Soon after my last post mid-August, I spent one rain soaked summer day swimming 1/2 mile in the open water, biking 12 miles on the open Seattle roads and finally dripping wet into a slow 3.1 mile jog finale at Genessee Park to finish my second ever Danskin Triathlon! Yes, yours truly finished a triathlon without dying, dehydration or damaging injuries that a few Advil's couldn't fix. This triathlon was a goal of mine to get back into working out schedule and I am happy to say that I did the triathlon and here a month later still trying to figure out ways to stay motivated to go to the gym. Its a hard balance getting everything done these days and I am in constant awe of some bloggers that have the ability to put out new recipes with interesting stories and fabulous photos on a frequent basis! Kudos to you all. After my triathlon weekend, I was swamped with the launch of a web site for a non-profit moms group and soon after that my family and I took a much needed vacation to the beautiful Orcas Island in the Pacific Northwest. Between all these things and raising my twins I haven't spent much time commenting, reading fellow food blogs or even cooking so much!

So with all my sincere apologies, I will now venture forth in describing to you my dish. My favorite fried object of desire. I present to you precious Goli Bajes. Goli Baje is a typically mangalorean fried fritter made out of all-purpose flour. Since I grew up in Bangalore I am used to only eating my moms' version. Once you have eaten a couple of Goli Bajes, you can't stop. You have to keep eating more and more to recreate the heavenly explosion of puffy maida goodness combined with the hint of ginger, chilies and herbs. Even though I have had these magical puffs with chutneys I prefer dipping them in either masala tomato ketchup or plain ketchup. My mom and I made these golden Goli Bajes during our in Orcas Island and it was the perfect snack for all while watching the serene views at West Beach. The Goli Bajes taste best fresh from the fryer with a hot cup of coffee or tea. I am sending this to lovely Asha at Foodie's Hope for this month's RCI Karnataka, brainchild of LakshmiK at Veggie Cuisine. I am originally from Karnataka and wish I had more time this month to sending and creating authentic south kanara recipes for the RCI Karnataka. Hopefully this is not too late and Asha will add to the round up!

Goli Baje or Mangalore Bondas Recipe

• 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
  
• Oil for Deep Frying (2 to 3 cups)
  
• 1/2 Inch ginger (chopped finely)
  
• 8 curry leaves (chopped finely)
  
• 1 green chili (quartered)1/2 Onion (optional)
  
• 1 Cup Whole Plain Yogurt (sourer the better)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 teaspoons chopped cilantro
• Salt to taste
• Pinch of hing (asafoetida)

Method:

Add Flour, Hing, salt, ginger, curry leaves, cilantro leaves into a big bowl and incorporate together. Add yogurt to the mix and combine. Add buttermilk and water till batter is not too thick/not too thin but a slow moving drip (see photo below of my mom's hand with batter).

Keep a bowl of water near the stove, heat the oil in a deep fryer or frying pan to handle 8 to 10 goli bajes at a time. Dip fingers into water and scoop up golf ball sized batter and gently put into hot oil for deep frying. We fried about 8 to 10 goli bajes at a time till golden brown. Clean fingers between goli bajes to help scoop and roll them into hot oil a bit easier or else your fingers/hands will be sticky with the batter! Remove fried bajes with a slotted spoon to a paper toweled plate.

Optional: You can make a non-traditional version of the Goli Bhajes with chopped onions and they are equally good in my opinion. Just add the onions into the mix while combining with other dry ingredients.

Other Notes: We did not get full puffy ROUND goli bajes as we used all-purpose flour rather than self-raising flour. If you use the self-raising flour you will get round and puffy goli bajes but this version will take up more oil during frying as well.

Serve hot with ketchup and tea or coffee.

My mom demonstrating the flow of batter for Goli Bajes

Goli Bajes (with onion version) and a hot cup of Chai.

Other Goli Baje Recipes I found in the food world:

• Sia's Version
• Shilpa's Version
  
• http://www.mangaloredelicacy.netfirms.com/goli_baje.htm
  
• http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/3925/recipe_snacks_18.html

Here are some photos from our Orcas Island vacation as an added bonus for my tardiness! Enjoy.

Sunset views from our cabin at West Beach Resort

Pretty flowers on the pier at West Beach

Domestic flowers (don't know the name) but so beautiful in West Sound.

Wildflowers at Moran State Park

Views from Mt. Constitution at Moran State Park, Orcas Island, San Juans, WA