Ganpati Bappa Morya !🙏🙏🌼🌼

Lord Ganesha has arrived once again, bringing with him an air of festivity, colour, fragrance and boundless joy. With his arrival, the festival seems to awaken all our senses with its vibrant colours, the cheerful sounds of celebration, fragrance of flowers and incense, the gentle haze of dhoop, and, above all, the irresistible aroma of the many delicacies lovingly prepared as offerings to our beloved Bappa.

Every region that celebrates Ganpati or Vinayaka Chaturthi has its own cherished culinary traditions. From modaks and puran poli in Maharashtra, to laddoos in Karnataka and northern India, and patoli in Goa, each place welcomes Lord Ganesha with its own distinctive flavours and festive specialties. Being a Bengali from Assam, I do not have a particular traditional dish that is specially prepared for Ganesha. Yet, like countless devotees, I too love to offer him something sweet, something that I feel he might enjoy and whenever possible, I love offerings to have a connection with the land, the season and the ingredients that nature generously gives us at that particular time of the year.

The month of Bhadra in the Hindu calendar, which generally falls around August–September, brings with it one of my favourite seasonal fruits—the palmyra palm fruit, locally known as taal. When ripe, taal has a wonderfully distinctive aroma, along with a mildly sweet and slightly astringent flavour. It is truly one of the stars of the late-monsoon season. In Bengal, the pulp of this beautiful fruit finds its way into a fascinating variety of traditional delicacies—taaler bora, taal kheer, taaler malpua, taaler luchi and many more. So, when taal is at its seasonal best, I feel that there could hardly be a more appropriate ingredient with which to prepare a little offering for Bappa.

If you have read some of my earlier posts, you may remember my post on Taal Modak, which I prepared during the Ganpati festivities. This year, however, I wanted to make something a little different. So, I prepared this time “Taal Phirni”—a humble yet wonderfully aromatic rice-flour pudding infused with the sweet aroma & flavour of ripe taal. You may see our earlier post on “Mango Phirni” to know more about making Phirni(s).

There is something particularly beautiful about offering a deity not merely a sweet, but a dish that carries with it the flavour of the season, memories of home, regional traditions and a little piece of one’s own culinary heritage. Therefore, this Taal Phirni is a small, seasonal offering to beloved Bappa with devotion, affection and of course, a little sweetness.

Would you like to know how I made this fragrant seasonal delicacy?

Here is the recipe for you. 👇👇

RECIPE

Ingredients:

1. Rice (coarsely ground) – 1/4^th cup.
2. Taal pulp – 3 to 4 tbs or as required.
3. Milk – 700 to 750 ml.
4. Sugar – 6 to 8 tsp or as per taste.
5. Dry fruits – Cashews, almonds and pistachios (chopped or sliced) – As per need.

Preparation:

1. Take taal pulp in a pan, add 1 tsp or 2 tsp of sugar and saute over a low flame, so that the sugar blends nicely with the pulp, removing its bitter flavour which sometimes may otherwise cause curdling of the milk.                 (Note: For steps of extraction of taal pulp, please refer to my previous post on taal modak).
2. Bring it down and keep aside for using later.
3. Divide the milk in two portions, say approximately 500 ml in a pan and the remaining 200 ml separately in a bowl.
4. Take 500 ml of milk in a pan over a low flame.
5. Thicken the milk slightly by stirring in continuously.
6. Take the rice flour in a bowl and add some milk to it to make a lump fee, smooth paste.
7.  Switch off the flame, and add the rice milk paste slowly to the milk in the pan and stir to mix well with the milk without forming any lump.
8.  Now, switch on the flame again and continue stirring the mixture over a low flame.
9. Let the mixture cook slowly while you keep stirring continuously so that no lumps are formed.
10. When the rice gets cooked, the mixture turns thick and creamy.
11. At this stage, when the mixture gets thickened, add sugar and mix well to dissolve it completely.    
12. Now add the taal pulp and continue stirring to blend it well with mixture, imparting a nice sweet aroma and a yellowish tinge of colour.  
13. Add some of the chopped nuts and mix.
14. Add the remaining milk to make it slightly thinner, if turns too dense.
15. Just give it a quick boil and switch off the flame.
16.  Bring it down and continue stirring for few more minutes until it is cooled down slightly in order to prevent layering of the mixture.
17. Pour the mixture in serving bowl, garnish with the remaining chopped nuts, cover and refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours to serve it chilled or you may also enjoy your fresh, warm phirni instantly, but for a better flavour its preferable to enjoy it chilled.