Piha or pithe

In both Bangladesh and West Bengal, the tradition of making different kinds of panfried, steamed or boiled sweets, lovingly known as pi?he or the pitha, still flourishes. These little balls of heaven symbolises the coming of winter, and the arrival of a season where rich food can be included in the otherwise mild diet of the Bengalis... the richness lie in the creamy silkiness of the milk which is mixed often with molasses, or jaggery made of either date palm or sugarcane, and sometimes sugar. They are mostly divided into different categories based on the way they are created. Generally rice flour goes into making the pithe.They are usually fried or steamed, the most common forms of these cakes include bhapa pi?ha (steamed), pakan pi?ha (fried), and puli pi?ha (dumplings), among others. The other common pithas are chandrapuli, gokul, pati shapta, chitai pi?ha, aski pithe, muger puli and dudh puli.The Pati Shapta variety is basically a thinlayered riceflour crepes with a milkcustard cremefilling, very weirdly similar to the hoppers or appams of South India, or the French crepes. In urban areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal most houses hold Pithafestivals sometime during the winter months. The celebration of the Pi?ha as a traditional sweet is the time for the Winter Harvest festival in rural Bangladesh and West Bengal. The harvest is known as Nabanno