Baked Aaloo Pithe

My husband's favorite "Pithe" - the deep fried extra sweet POTATO based "Aloo'r Pithe". Doesn't strike a chord for the "Oh so calorie conscious" me ;) Well, my extra pounds have nothing to do with my being calorie conscious!

I tried making these baked Potato Pithe, and they turned out "nice". Now, "fried vs. baked" is no competition at all, but they did taste..."nice"! And I DO lack vocabulary!

All I can say is they disappeared fast enough to prove they were delish. Especially if you lend a thought to the fact that they were made "minus the oil". Ah! Now that strikes a chord!

Did I forget to mention the most important part? This is a traditional Bengali sweet dish eaten during the harvest festival of Poush Sankranti. The traditional recipe calls for deep frying, and tastes a lot better than what I made here.

Ingredients below make about 20-25 "pithe". Time to cook is approx. 45 minutes.

• 1 1/2 Potatoes (Sweet potatoes taste best, and are healthier. I used regular ones.)
• 1 bowl shredded coconut
• 1 Tbsp all purpose flour (If you use sweet potatoes, you might need a little more)
• 1 Tsp melted butter.
• 10-15 Tbsp Jaggery
• 2 Bay leaves
• 3-4 Cardamoms
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil for greasing

Method:

To make the syrup -

• Boil 1 cup of water.
• Add the bay leaves and Cardamoms to the water.
• Then add the jaggery.
• Stir at regular intervals.
• Boil until the jaggery dissolves completely and the syrup gets sticky and drips slowly from the spatula.

To make the "pitha" - 

• Boil the potatoes.
• Peel and drain water completely.
• Mash the potatoes, add the coconut, flour and butter and mix well.
• Make sure there are no lumps.
• If required add a little more flour. The mix should not be sticky, but be careful, if you add too much flour, the "Pitha" would turn hard. Trick is to add flour half Tsp at a time.
• Place parchment paper on a baking tray and grease the paper with vegetable oil.
• Make small longish balls out of the mix with your hands, and line them on the baking tray.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees (F).
• Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Watch over occasionally.
• Then turn on broil for another 5-6 minutes. The balls would have browned lightly by then.

• Drop the balls in the syrup.
• If the syrup has gotten cold, heat it up before dropping the "pitha" in it.

Serve warm or cold, depending on preference.

Tips:

• In case you want to make traditional pithas(deep fried), simply exclude the butter from the mix. 
• You would need to add a little more flour to the mix to make sure the balls stay bound together while deep frying. 
• Also, you might add a little "rava"/"suji" to the mix. 

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