Dhoodh Puli

Eat, like nobody is watching. Enjoy food like that's the only thing left in your world.

~ Nikita Dudani

This is a typical Sankranti recipe. Sankranti is a harvest festival observed in Bengal in the month of poush . This recipe is made with the fresh harvest of rice, and coconut. This is a savory dish from Bengal, made to welcome the Winter Season.

Many other Dishes like Til (Sesame seeds) Laddoo, Chikki, and Moa (made out of puffed rice and jaggery) are prepared to celebrate this festival. This is a age old recipe that we have been cooking at home. I just changed the shape of the Puli.

Sharing the recipe below.

RECIPE:

Serving: 4 people

Cooking time: 40 Mins

Ingredients:

Stuffing:

1. 4 Tbsp. Khoya

2. 1 Cup freshly grated coconut

3. 1/2 Cup liquid jaggery

Dumplings:

1. 2 Cup Rice Flour

2. 3 tbsp. Sooji (Semolina)

3. 1 Liters of Milk

STEPS:

Stuffing:

Step 1: Keep a pan on the stove. Keeping it on a medium low heat. Dry roast the coconut until it gives out an aroma.

Step 2: Add the Khoya. Fry till it mixes well with the coconut and the coconut leaves oil.

Step 3: Add 1/2 cup jaggery. On a medium low flame, fry till there is a binding consistency. Put it on a plate and let cool.

Dumplings:

Step 1: In a bowl mix the rice flour and the sooji (semolina). With Luke warm water start kneading the dough. Make sure you put little water at a time. The dough has to be firm.

Step 2: Now take a golf ball size dough. Make a round ball. Start flattening it in your palms. Pressing slowly with your fingers. Like you would do for Aaloo Paratha.

Step 3: Now fill the dumpling with the coconut stuffing. Around 1 tbsp. for one dumpling. And give it your desired shape. Make sure the dumplings are neatly wrapped. So they don't open in the milk.

Final Steps:

Step 1: Parallelly take a deep pan. Preferably a heavy base one.

Step 2: On medium low flame, heat the milk. Let a full boil come. Simmer the gas. Now slowly add the dumplings in the milk.

Step 3: Giving occasional stirs, on a medium high flame, cook the dumplings. You know they are properly cooked, when they start floating.

Step 4: Remove the dumplings, when the milk reduces to 1/2 of the original quantity.

Step 5: Take out half a cup of milk using a ladle. Add 1/2 cup of liquid jaggery. Mix well. Add this syrup to the boiling milk.

Step 6: Boil the milk to reach required consistency. The milk would thicken, due to the rice flour. Now add the dumplings. Cook on a medium flame for 2-3 minutes.

Step 7: Switch off the flame and cover with a lid.

Cool it to a room temperature. Serve the dumplings along with the milk syrup.