From now on you won’t need to wait till winter to dig into delicious pithe puli. A new store called Pithe Bilashi has opened at Nalban Food Park that will serve them round the year along with other heritage dishes of Bengal. 

Besides time-tested recipes like Gokul Pithe and Doodh Puli, they also serve innovative bites like Choco Gokul, Ice Cream-Gokul Pithe and Mango Patishapta. The latter is such a hit that the proprietor, Nabanita Chatterjee Chakraborty, has even applied to get its recipe patented. 

“Bengalis love their nolen gur in winter and mango in summer. This dish combines both and makes them available round the year,” says Nabanita, a young electrical engineer from Barasat who switched to entreprenaurship. “No one has the time to make pithes at home anymore. I myself learnt making them from my mother and grandmother.”

After her marriage, Nabanita and her mother-in-law started taking up pithe stalls at fairs and pujas, to tremendous response. “I even participated in cooking contests and won them, including one at Bidhannagar Mela. Gradually I realised this was my true calling and opened this restaurant,” she says. 

The store is opposite the Sector V McDonald’s and has air-conditioned sitting space as well as an open-air section overlooking the bheris. “Visitors throng Nalban and appreciate any new food option here,” said fisheries minister Chandranath Sinha, who inaugurated the restaurant before the Pujas.

Not limited to desserts, the vegetarian restaurant offers full-fledged meals besides spicy patishaptas, known as rosaptas. There’s Mocha Rosapta, Paneer Rosapta, Phulkopi Posto Rosapta as well as lesser-known items like Hing-Shuti Kochuri and Echorer Ghee-Churi. 

“The chochchoris here comprise chal kumro, thor, lady’s finger and we’re using a lot of shak as this ingredient tends to get overlooked among other fancy dishes,” says Nabanita. “Since the restaurant is in Sector V we’ll get office crowd who will want tasty as well as healthy food and we keep that in mind while cooking.” A meal for two would cost around Rs 150 at Pithe Bilashi. 

PATISHAPTA

Ingredients- (For pancake)- Refined flour ½ cup, rice flour 2 tbsp, semolina ½ cup, baking soda ¼ tsp, powdered sugar 1 tbsp, milk 1 cup, ghee 4 to 5 tbsp, oil 1 tsp. (For stuffing)- Coconut powder or grated dry coconut ¾ cup, mawa 1 cup, powdered sugar ½ cup, cashews 8 to 10 (finely chopped), cardamom powder ½ tsp 

Method- Make a batter with all pancake ingredients except ghee and oil. Keep aside for 20 minutes. For the stuffing roast the mawa in low flame by stirring. When its colour changes and releases an aroma, turn off the flame and add the rest of the ingredients. Now preheat a tawa and pour the oil. Spread a teaspoon of the batter over the tawa and pour the ghee evenly over it. Flip and roast till it is brownish on both sides. Remove. Place a teaspoon of the stuffing over the pancake and fold it in a roll. Your patishapta is ready. 

 Pictures by Prithwish Karforma 

 

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