Sita Bhog | How to make Sitabhog
Sita Bhog is a popular Bengali Sweet originating from Bardhaman district. This dish looks like a vermicelli or strings, made a dough made with paneer and rice flour. It is deep fried and soaked in sugar syrup. While serving, it is mixed with soft Nikhutis.
Servings 2 cups
Ingredients
For the Sita Bhog
- 1 cup Paneer / Chhana / Cottage Cheese
- 2 tsp Rice Powder
- 1 - 2 tsp Milk (as needed in the final stage of kneading)
For Sugar Syrup for Sita Bhog
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1 Cardamom
- Few Strands Saffron
For the Nikhuti
- 1 cup Milk Powder
- 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour / Maida
- A Pinch Baking Soda
- 1.5 tsp Ghee
- 2 tbsp Curds / Yogurt
Sugar Syrup for Nikhuti
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 cup Water
- 1 Cardamom
- Few Strands Saffron
Other Ingredients
- Ghee for deep frying, I made a mix of cooking oil and ghee.
Instructions
Making Homemade Rice Flour
- Soak 1 cup of Rice in water for a couple of hours. Drain and spread over a kitchen towel and keep under the fan to make it completely dry. Once dry, you can powder it to a fine powder. The rice might still be little damp, which will help in holding the dish shape. Alternatively, you can use store bought Rice flour as well. I used store bought rice flour.
Making Sita Bhog
- Make the soft fresh chhana for preparing Bengali Sweets. Take the portion needed to make this sweet.
- Knead the chhana for about 10 to 15 mins, till you see the chhana oozing out fat and looks shiny.
- Gather the cheese and add the rice flour. Knead again till the rice flour is well incorporated and the cheese holds its shape.
- Sprinkle the milk and knead the cheese into a ball again.
- Using the grater, first, try out grating through it to check if you are getting fine vermicelli size strings.
- Heat the kadai with cooking oil and ghee mix, when it is hot, simmer and keep the grater directly over it and grate the cheese ball into the cooking oil.
- You will get fine strings of cheese that will get cooked very quickly. So, make sure you keep an eye on that to make sure oil is not very hot.
- Drain with a slotted spoon.
Making the Sugar Syrup
- Melt the sugar in water and remove impurities if any, add cardamom and saffron and bring to a boil.
- Once the water starts rolling boil, let it get cooked for another 5 to 7 mins. We are not looking for a string consistency. Only for the sita bhog cheese strings to soak the sweet.
- Gently drop the cooked cheese strings into the sugar syrup, close with a lid and let it dunk all the sweetness. This could take about an hour depending on the texture. Drain the strings and spread on a plate to dry out.
Making Nikhuti
- In another bowl, add Milk powder, Maida, Soda, Ghee, and Curd. Mix well and knead it for some 10 to 15 mins. Ensure the dough is soft and does not crack.
- Pinch out tiny balls and shape as puli or oval shape.
- Heat cooking oil and ghee mix in a kadai. When the oil is hot, simmer to low flame, drop in the Nikhuti in batches and deep fry till they turn golden brown colour.
- Drain using a slotted spoon and keep it aside.
Making the Sugar Syrup
- Since I had the sugar syrup excess from the previous batch of sita bhog, I simply added extra sugar and made the syrup in the same pan.
- When the syrup is done, drop the Nikhutis into it and let it soak in sugar syrup for an hour or so.
- I made more Nikhutis and served as such. These made the perfect mini gulab jamuns.
Assembling the Sita Bhog
- Drain the Nikhutis from the syrup and mix to the sita bhog and toss it to get mixed well.
- Serve it as chilled or at room temperature as a dessert.
Notes
The Sita Bhog is normally made with Govind Bhog rice in Bengal, it is supposed to be fragrant and aromatic. If you are not able to access it, you could use Basmati Rice instead.
You can use Homemade Rice Flour or store bought.
Making with just 1 cup paneer is pretty simple and easy to attempt.
Tried this recipe?Mention @spicingyourlife_ or tag #spicingyourlife_!