For the Indian Cooking Challenge this month, we went on to make the Bengali Special Sweet Pati Shapta. This is a sweet that Bengalis make during the January month for Sankranthi. I selected this recipe from Sandeepa's blog and she has pretty much given it clearly.
For a change this sweet is not entirely made with paneer, though it does still deal with milk product. And they also use Date Palm Jaggery. If you are not able to get it, use regular sugar. Though we have to make it at home, and most times the measurement would be for a large crowd and I end up scaling down for a smaller number, for my ICC members, this time though I had the measurement for a smaller number, I had to scale up for 100 folks. We had a food festival at office and we decided to select a dish from Bengal. Since we have a Bengali colleague, we were able to get the authenticity of this dish when he tasted. He was so elated tasting it that he called up his mom and shared the pictures we clicked.
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| Pati Shapta |
We asked this bengali colleague for recipes that we can make and he came up with two of them. Since he wasn't sure of the measurement, I ended up referring Sandeepa's space. She had given measurement with 3 cups of All purpose flour, I think it makes about 8 pancakes. So I had to scale up to 100 folks or rather 140 - 150 pancakes. After a period, we couldn't keep count of the pancakes that was made. I was suppose to make the filling the previous day. But somehow ended up making it the morning.
As I wanted to make the filling the previous day to reduce the work on the actual day, we bought the khoya the previous day. Which actually worked out good, because on the day we made I felt we needed some more khoya. I wrongly calculated the to be about 6 kgs, but when we opened it up for mixing, realized that 3 kgs should work out fine. We decided that we can mix later if needed as the batter didn't need any resting period.
Another mistake was forgetting to boil the milk ahead of time. So the milk was really hot when we set out to make. So imagine handling the hot milk with flour. The flour almost ended up being cooked, but we manage to salvage the best we could by cooling the batter and blending it with blender. The khoya got ready and we set it out for cooling. We had about three tawa cooking, with 4 different people making it. The pancakes were supposed to be made, and then the filling to be place over it and again cooked. At one point we felt making the pancakes at one go and then topping it with filling was fine, then we saw that the resultant Pati Shapta wasn't as tasty.
The first ladle of batter I poured in, turned out to be a mess and a mass! It won't come out at all. Imagine the pantry had about 7-8 of them, looking eagerly at me, they almost had me panicking. The first thought on all our minds was about what we were going to going to serve for the whole lot. Then knowing it has to be fixed, I mixed in more rice flour and ground rava for the pancake. Finally we had the pancake turning out well and the dish turned out awesome!
Everybody simply loved it and some liked it with the condensed milk, some felt it added more sweetness. On the whole the team that made the dish were so happy knowing it turned out good. It was really such an unexpected turn out of a success from a moment when we thought it was going to be a flop. From all my experience of making for 100 folks, this was the one dish that unanimously had everybody loving it.
Step by Step Picture
Fresh coconut along with sugar added
After 15 mins
Khoya added to the hot pan.
If the khoya is hard to handle, microwave for a minute.
This is after 30 mins.
3 kgs of flour added
with ground rava and rice flour
added little sugar and salt
Milk poured in
Mixing in the milk and flour for the pancake.
Pancake poured in
After cooking on both sides, the coconut khoya filling placed in middle
Covered on both sides.
After a while we started making two pancakes in a tawa,
Filling up at the same time.
Poush Parbon er Pati Shapta
All purpose flour - 3 kgs
Rice flour - 1 kg
Soji - 1 kg
Milk - 8 liters
Sugar - 1/2 kg
Salt a pinch
For the Stuffing
Coconut - 6 big whole
Khoya - 1 kg 800 gms
Sugar - 2 & 1/2 kgs
Cooking Oil - 500 gms
For a smaller measurement, you can follow this
Adapted from Sandy's Pati Shapta
Ingredients Needed
For the pur or stuffing
Grated Coconut - 3 cup
Khoa, unsweetened- 12 oz / 300 gms
Sugar / Date Palm Jaggery - 1 cup.
For Batter for Crepe
Maida or All Purpose Flour - 3 cup
Sooji or Semolina - 1/2 cup
Rice Flour - 1/4 cup**
Milk - 4 cups + a little more *
For Topping
Condensed Milk as required / Sweetened thick Milk
How to make Pati Shapta
For the Pur or Stuffing
Take the fresh grated coconut and sugar, mix well using your hands so that the coconut gets soft.
Then put it on heat, and mix using a ladle.Simmer though the whole process.
Meanwhile, microwave the khoya for 30 secs to make it a little soft.
When the sugar starts melting, add the softened khoya
Keep on stirring till the mixture turns a light brown and is sticky. At this point the mix should not dis-integrate but should look like a light brown slightly sticky granular substance. This takes about 30 mins to get this done. Remove from heat when done. it should not be very dry.
For the Crepe
In a wide bowl, take the maida, add Sooji, rice flour. Mix in milk slowly and start mixing the batter with your hands. This way you will know the consistency of the batter.
How to make the crepe:
Heat a Pan and smear a little oil/ghee on it
Take a ladle full of batter and pour it on the Frying Pan and tilting the pan and moving the mixture with back of the ladle, evenly distribute the batter in a circle . You have to do this quick before the mix sets
Once you feel one side is cooked flip over
Put the stuffing lengthwise at the center of the crepe
Fold the crepe and when it browns a little take it out
For serving
Drizzle the crepes with condensed milk and serve hot.
Notes:
*For the batter:
Milk has to be slowly added when making the batter. The consistency should be thin so that it spreads when you pour over the pan and rotate the griddle to make it circle.
For the Stuffing
If you are not able to get fresh coconut, you can use frozen coconut. Microwave the frozen one, to make it soft and fluffy
**If you do not have rice flour, you can use this measurement.
For 1 Cup Maida add 1/6th cup Sooji + 2 tsp Sugar. Add about 1&1/2 Cup of Milk and mix well to make a smooth batter. You might need to add 1/2 cup more water or milk but do that gradually and not all at once. Rest of the process is same.
If you have store bought rice flour you may need to grind it once more in your dry grinder to make it fine. The sooji can also be ground to help the thin consistency.
Milk to be used should not be added at one go, slowly add and blend to get a smooth thin batter.
For the garnish in the end, traditionally milk is thicken and sweeten before pouring over the crepes. We can use condensed milk to get the same effect.
To make this healthy you can also consider using whole wheat for the crepe.
My notes:
I ground Sooji as well. My rice flour was very fine, so there was no need to grind that. I actually added sugar to the batter, thinking the pancake might be bland. I was wrong, overall the entire dish
turns out to be sweet as we almost caramelize the coconut with sugar.
I also added a pinch of salt to the batter.
All of us were so happy we tried this out. Was surely a very unique sweet and I am sure when making for smaller measurement this will be great. I was feeling bad that I didn't make it for my family. Will be making it soon
To all my ICC members, please link your post to Mr. Linky.
Recipe
Patishapta | How to make Pati shapta Step By Step Recipe | Indian Cooking Challenge - June
Tried this recipe?Mention @spicingyourlife_ or tag #spicingyourlife_!
Priya says
Will post mine tomorrow, they came out superb, love it.
Gayathri Kumar says
Lovely challenge Valli. It was fantastic...
Hamaree Rasoi says
I salute you for attempting this tough bengali sweet. Sandeepa's any recipe will come out with flying success ...And you have done a fabulous job by making so many pitheys.
Mélange says
That's splendid Valli.I loved reading each word you written there. After all,this is the purpose of a challenge.Cheers !
vaishali sabnani says
oh dear..so many!...grt job.I wonder if u all used a non stick gridle..makes it real simple..also adding sure will make it more sticky..so thanks for giving us those tips in advance...must say a wonderful challenge..n now looking fwd to the next one:))
Mélange says
I just linked mine Valli.Thanks dear.
Jayanthi says
I can't agree more...this challenge was awesome. It was so good my family is just raving about its unique taste. Loved it totally!!! Thanks Valli ....awesome pick.
Archana says
Lovely pati shapta.
I have a grouse dear. Why is it that ICC has only sweets? Can you not start a new one Please note Bold and underlined New ICC where there savory dishes are tried. I always drool over these and move on.
Please do consider this Valli and write my name as the first entrant/participant. 🙂
Srivalli says
Thank you everybody, all your comments surely made the efforts worthywhile..thank you
Archana Thank you, actually I like savory than sweets. But the fact is there aren't that many savories that we can make without those special gadgets we need. Moreover I always get suggestions from members. So if you can come with a savory that fits the bill of a challenge, I will surely and gladly do it..:)
Chef Mireille says
these look so good and you know I always enjoy learning about new things - this is a new sweet I will have to try someday
Harini-Jaya Rupanagudi says
This was an awesome sweet Valli. Loved making it..just linked here...
Pavani says
We really enjoyed these and I'm glad I was able to try them and participate in ICC after so long. Thanks for choosing this yummy dish Valli.
Yours look delicious.
Scraps says
Finally had the time to join in this month and had such a good time making these! Thanks for the challenge 🙂
PJ says
You made this for a crowd!!Wow!!Really a yummy dessert which I will try out sometime later.Missed this ICC...
rekhas kitchen says
That was realy a delicious sweet Valli We enjoyed it thanks for the recipe.