Chanar Daler Puli Pitha (Bengali Split Chickpea Dumplings)

Name: Chanar Daler Puli Pitha (Bengali Split Chickpea Dumplings)
Total time: 2700 s
Yield: 15 dumplings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: For The Stuffing:; 1.5 cup grated coconut; 3/4 cup grated patali gur (date palm jaggery); 1/2 tsp cardamom powder; For The Dumpling Dough:; 1.5 cup split chickpeas; 1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida); 1/2 tsp salt; For Frying:; As needed refined oil for deep frying; For The Syrup:; 1 cup sugar; 2.5 cup water

Deepsikha Chakraborty @cook_14092070

Bangalore

#winter Back home, this Pitha is a must during winter, specially in Poush Sankranti (Makar Sankranti). This is nothing but dumplings made with split chickpeas, stuffed with grated coconut and jaggery and submerged into a syrup made with jaggey or sugar. A melt-in-mouth dish and a winter favoutite among Bengali households.
The recipe may sound very easy, but all it needs to have a good understanding of the proportion and that comes from practice. Chanar Dal (Bengali split chickpea) being the main ingredient, does the magic and all purpose flour acts just as the binding agent. So, while mixing these two, just make sure that the proportion is correct – too much all purpose flour will make the dumplings hard and will effect the taste. Here’s how I made it.

Deepsikha Chakraborty @cook_14092070

Saved

Ingredients

45 minutes

15 dumplings

For The Stuffing:
1.5 cupgrated coconut
3/4 cupgrated patali gur (date palm jaggery)
1/2 tspcardamom powder
For The Dumpling Dough:
1.5 cupsplit chickpeas
1/2 cupall purpose flour (maida)
1/2 tspsalt
For Frying:
As neededrefined oil for deep frying
ForThe Syrup:
1 cupsugar
2.5 cupwater

Saved

Steps

45 minutes

1

Soak the chickpeas overnight. Pressure cook the chickpeas for 2 whistles. Let the pressure cool down completely.
2

Meanwhile, heat a pan and add all the ingredients mentioned in "For The Stuffing" section. On a low flame, stir until the ingredients mix properly and the coconut is little fried.
3

The stuffing should be sticky such that if you compress, it should stick together. Once it’s done, add ghee and give a quick mix. Remove it from the flame and keep aside.
4

Now, take out the boiled chickpeas for the pressure cooker. Drain the water and rub the chickpeas with a clean cloth to absorb the extra water. The more you absorb the water, the less you need to mix all purpose flour. The dumplings will become super soft this way.
5

Make a fine paste of the boiled chickpeas. The paste will be thick and tight and that is ok.
6

Add all purpose flour and salt with the chickpea paste (as mentioned in "For The Dumpling Dough" section) and knead a smooth dough.
7

Note: don’t use extra water to knead the dough. The moisture present in the chickpea paste is sufficient enough.
8

Once the dough is done, cut small balls from the dough. With the help of your fingers, press the balls to make bowl shapes.
9

Now, stuff them with coconut stuffing and seal the edges to make half moon shaped dumplings. If possible, make design on the edges by curving them with your fingers.
10

Once the dumplings are ready, keep them aside.
11

In a pan. heat sufficient oil for deep frying. Pour the dumplings and deep fry till they turn golden brown.
12

Remove them to a tissue paper spread vessel and keep aside. Allow them to cool down to the room temperature.
13

Again, in a heavy bottom pan, add the ingredients mentioned in "For the syrup" section and bring it to a boil by stirring it. Lower the flame and cook it until the sugar gets dissolved and the consistency is little thick.
14

The syrup should be rather runny and not too thick.
15

Turn off the flame and cool it down to the room temperature.
16

Once, both the dumplings and the syrup cool down to the room temperature, submerge the dumplings into the syrup and keep it for 2-3 hours.
17

The Chanar Daler Puli Pitha is ready to be served now.

Saved

Cooksnaps

Saved

Deepsikha Chakraborty @cook_14092070

on January 25, 2019 12:43

Bangalore

Food Enthusiast, Stylish, Photographer and Blogger. Love to travel and a movie buff.My Blog: http://whenabongcooks.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/when_a_bong_cooks/