07 September 2020

Gokul Pitay / Coconut Filled Sweet Dumplings

This is a fried Bengali sweet, dipped in sugar syrup. It is sweet from both inside and outside. If you wish you can enjoy it without dipping it in the sugar syrup but I personally prefer Gokul Pitay as my mother used to make it—the authentic coconut filled dessert.

Ingredients

• Prerequisite - Narkoler Chhai for the coconut filling
• AP flour 1 cup.
• Milk of your choice 1 cup.
• Ghee 2 tbsp.
• baking powder 1/8 tsp (or a three-finger-pinch).
• Salt a pinch.
• Sugar 1 cup.
• Water 1 cup.
• Unflavored oil 1.5 cup.

Directions

You can make about fifteen pitays from this recipe.

Let’s first make the pitay’s batter. First mix flour, ghee and baking powder. Incorporate them until the batter resembles sand. You can mix these with two forks or your hand. Now add the milk and with the help of a wire whisk make a smooth thick batter. The batter should be thick enough to coat the coconut filling nicely so that when you fry the pitay, no filling comes out.

Now, lets make the syrup. In a sauce pan, take 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring it to a boil. As soon as the sugar melts turn off the heat.

Now let’s make the pitay! Take a frying pan and heat the oil in high heat, then simmer. Take 1 tbsp coconut filling (Narkoler chhai) in your palm and shape it like a ball. Then press it a little bit to form a thick small disc (about the size of the lid of a plastic jug for a gallon of milk). Now very gently dip each disc into the batter to coat them completely and drop them one by one in to the oil (don’t crowd the oil). Fry each side till it is golden brown and then take them out. They will now go in to the sugar syrup. Let them soak an hour or so.

Enjoy the sweets anytime of the day!