Colourful fairs, musical soirees and ceremonial festivities abound in the country to greet the harvest season. Rural Bangladesh dressed in gold; the glitters of the freshly harvested golden rice bring life to the fullest and a smile on every face.
Agrahayon, the eighth month in the Bengali calendar, marks the beginning of traditional harvest festival of Nobanno. In Bengali, Nobanno means "new crop". In an agro-based country, the principal crop - rice - is harvested in the month of Agrahayon. Truly, a joyful time in rural Bangladesh as farmers bring their sustenance home. Another attraction of
"new crop" is the beginning of 'pitha' season.
In Bengali, winter is the season for 'pitha-puli.' We have at least hundreds of different varieties of pithas. Some are associated with the harvest (Nobanno) in winter while some others are prepared on any grand occasions like weddings, eids or pujas. Some are crunchy, some steamed and others delightfully soaked in sugar, molasses, milk or date palm syrup. Most of them are sweet, though there are some savoury pithas as well.

Dudh puli
'Dudh' stands for milk in Bengali and 'puli' is another name for pitha. Dudh puli can be described as rice flour dumpling with coconut filling, cooked in cardamom and cinnamon infused milk. Dudh puli is one of the most common and delicious pitha prepared in Bengal during Makar Sankranti celebration in January. The stuffing is generally made of coconut and date palm jaggery and shell is made of rice flour. But surprisingly these dumplings are not fried or steamed but boiled in thick milk and flavoured again with date palm jaggery.
 

Ingredients:
2 cups grated coconut
½ cup jaggery
½ tin condensed milk
2 cup rice flour
1 cup water
Salt (as required)
2 litres milk
½ cup sugar
3 cardamom
3 pieces cinnamon stick
Method:
Mix coconut, condensed milk and jaggery on a non-stick pan. Turn on stove and stir constantly until the mixture becomes slightly sticky. Remove the pan. Now boil water, add salt and rice flour, mix thoroughly and make a dough. Knead well for about 5 minutes. Take part of the dough and roll it out as thick as a tortilla. Cut out circles with a cookie cutter. Place a small amount of coconut filling on each circle. Brush the edges with water and seal tightly to form a crescent shape. Keep aside. Now boil milk, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom together in a pan. When the milk is reduced to half add the pithas and cook for 30 minutes in medium-low heat or until pithas are cooked. Remove the pan and serve.                          

Bhapa pitha
Bhapa pitha is one of the most popular pithas in Bangladesh, made of powdered rice, coconut and jaggery stuffed inside. It is one of the dessert items that truly represents Bengali cuisine.

Ingredients:
2 cup parboiled rice
½ cup liquid milk
Pinch of salt
For the filling -
½ cup grated fresh coconut
1 cup date jaggery
Method:
Soak the rice for at least 5-6 hour. Drain the water out well. Now pour in a grinder or food processor. Mix some water (don't take too much). Add salt and sprinkle milk in a way that the rice powder must seem wet, not dry at all. If the flour binds together when you hold some of them in your palm, the flour is ready. Now sieve the flour through the strainer. Take two pieces of clean cotton cloth and two small bowls. In a bowl spread some flour then add the coconut and jaggery. Cover it with another layer of flour. Cover it with piece of cloth and put in the steamer. Tap the bowl slightly, so that you can remove the bowl easily. Remove the bowl and cover the pitha with the remaining ends of the cloth. Steam for 4-5 minutes. Prepare the same way using the other bowl and cloth. You remove one pitha and place another.

Golap pitha
'Golap pitha', the beautiful, rose shaped pitha has two versions. One is dried one like 'gina’ or ‘pakon pitha', fried and coated with thick sugar syrup while the other is a soft, 'gulabjamun' style version, soaked in sugar syrup. The basic dough for both of them is same. The one I will be sharing today is the soft one.
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
½ cup milk
1 cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp ghee
1 pieces cardamom
½" cinnamon stick
Oil for deep fry
Cookie cutter
Method:
Make syrup with sugar, cardamom, cinnamon and 2 cups water. Keep aside the syrup because we need lukewarm syrup. Now boil milk with salt and when it comes to the boiling point, add flour. Turn the heat off and let it sit for 3-4 minutes under closed lid. Make a smooth dough with boiling flour and ghee. Divide the dough into 4 balls. Roll each ball into thin bread and cut with cookie cutter. We need 3 to make 1 rose. Need to bend or spread petals to give the look of exact flower. Give them a rose flower shape. Heat oil in a pan and fry the 'pitha' till it becomes golden brown. Take out fried from oil and soak in syrup for 3 minutes. Take it out from syrup and serve beautiful 'golap pitha'.

Notun gur-er  kheer
Ingredients:
½ cup aromatic rice
2 litres milk
3/4 cup date jaggery
¼ cup mixed nuts
Method:
Soak rice in water for half an hour. Let the water drain. Crush the rice with your hand. Heat the milk on a pan to boil. When the milk is reduced to half, add rice to it and cook in low heat. As the milk thickens keep on stirring the mixture or it will stick to the bottom of the pan. When the mixture becomes thick, add jaggery and nuts and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the pan and prepare to serve.

Spicy patishapta
'Patishapta  pitha' is known for its creamy 'kheer' in the middle and soft outer roll. It is a popular pitha or dessert that is made during the winter. It is delightful and easy to make; this sweet dish is a real delight to those who are born with a sweet tooth.
I tried to give this particular pitha a twist, using mince chicken as stuffing to bring about change and give you a unique taste.
Ingredients
1 cup chicken keema
¼ cup chopped onion
1 tsp ginger paste
½ tsp garlic paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tbsp red chilli sauce
¼ tsp black pepper powder
½ cup cheese
2 cup rice flour
½ cup oil
Salt to taste
Method
In a bowl, mix rice flour, salt and water to make a batter. Leave them for half an hour.  Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Put the chopped onion to it. Fry the onion till light brown. Add all the ingredients except the cheese and the rice flour. Cook it until the water is fully reduced. Remove the pan and allow it to cool down, mix the cheese to it and keep it aside. This will go as stuffing inside the 'pitha'. Now heat the frying pan and grease a little oil on the surface. Now take a small amount of batter at a time and spread on its hot surface in round shapes. Take two spoonful of stuffing, place on one side of the 'pitha' and roll in to a cylindrical shape. Arrange in a plate and prepare to serve.

Kolar-pitha (banana rice cake)
'Kolar pitha' is a traditional dessert that is usually made in winter, as it is considered the season of desserts. It is sweet, soft and sumptuous that is very easy to make. It is delicious by itself, and makes a great afternoon snack.
Ingredients
2 cup husked rice flour
¼ cup plain wheat flour
2 cup water
2 cup grated date jaggery
4 ripe bananas
Oil for deep fry
Pinch of salt
Method
In a bowl add water, rice flour, plain flour and jaggery. Stir and mix well. Blend the banana in a blender with little bit of water. Add the blended banana to the rice and flour mixture. Stir continuously to make a mixture of dropping consistency. In a deep thick bottomed frying pan, heat the oil. Fill the mixture in a quarter cup and pour it on boiling oil. The medium sized round shape of the pitha will swell in the bubbling oil. Gradually add more pitha. At a time, around 4-5 pithas can be fried. Fry until the pithas turns deep brown and serve.
Photo: LS Archive/Sazzad Ibne Sayed