Bengal and its sweets have been around for over 500 years. Bengal used to be referred to as ‘Gour Banga’ in the past. The word ‘gour,’ which is derived from the Bengali word ‘gur,’ refers to molasses that is mostly made from sugarcane, dates, or palm oil. Sweets like nadu, payesh, monda, batasa, and pitha puli were made with coconut, jaggery, and rice flour in the past before ‘chana’, a milk product, was created. Mishti producers created chana. In Bengal, chana mishti includes sandesh, rasmalai, roshogolla, and many other well-known chana sweets. Without Bengali desserts, no religious event, wedding, or birthday celebration would be complete in the state of Bengal.
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The first grain of the year is stocked up and celebrated in a beautiful and dignified manner. In Bengal, this is called ‘Nabanno’, which means ‘new rice’. This is what ‘Poush Sankranti’ or the concluding day of the Bengali month of Poush also means. Date palm jaggery, also known as nolen gur, is widely available throughout the entire state. Every household prepares a variety of traditional sweets, which are primarily made using rice, flour, milk, and nolen gur. These desserts are termed as ‘pithe’ or ‘pitha’. On that day after puja, everyone has a traditional lunch with khichuri, and then in the evenings, the prepared variety of pithe is served. Dudh puli and atishapta are the two most common pithe that are made in every Bengali household. You can say, pathishapta is a modern twist with a touch of Bengal when it comes to crepes. It’s paper-thin, stuffed with coconut and nolen gur, and every bite makes your eyes roll.
The Origin
Patishapta can be prepared at any time of year and is usually made with rice flour or wheat flour. However, it is essential during January, when Makar Sankranti is celebrated in various parts of India. There aren't really any guidelines because, like most local dishes, the recipe for patishapta is tailored to the tastes of each household. There is more to patishapta than just dessert. This piece of Bengali art demonstrates the beauty of using simple or readily accessible materials to create something unique. Like many culinary customs, pithe-making is frequently depicted in images of family bonding, where women sit in circles and shape the sweets while telling stories. A plate of patishapta is frequently used in contemporary film as a shorthand for ‘home’ and ‘tradition.’
The creation of patishapta was perhaps an attempt to pay respect to all of this wealth. In iron pots, jaggery was slowly stirred, fresh coconut was grated, and ground rice from the new crop was turned into batter. Semolina is used extensively to give it a crunchy texture. The end product was a delicate and rustic crepe delicacy. ‘Pati’ means roll, and shapta translates to something flat, like a crepe. So patishapta is a rolled crepe. However, its story, which is based on season and soil, explains why it is important. It started in mud kitchens with wood-fired stoves and eventually made its way into metropolitan residences with marble floors.
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Also Read: Kheer To Chitoi: The Top 10 Bengali Pithas For Pitha Parbon
Nevertheless, patishapta stayed mostly unaltered. Poush Parbon may no longer have its agricultural roots in the cities, but its gastronomic charm has not lost its way. Many Bengali households continue to indulge in a subtle competition to see whose patisapta is the softest, whose filling is the richest, and whose aroma is the most pleasing.