I was invited by friends to the family party for their daughter’s 30th birthday. One parent is Bangladeshi, and the theme was a Pitha Party – specialty, mostly sweet, stuffed goodies – “dumplings” and crepes.
I had tried these from a street cart in Jackson Heights a while back with @DaveCook and @JenKalb (here and here), but what was served at the party was a much more extensive selection, and homemade.
They were sauteed, fried, or steamed, and stuffed or unstuffed. Made of various grain flours and lentils, stuffed with coconut or milk products. The one savory option came plain or with minced vegetables mixed into the batter, and was served with 3-4 accompaniments (chutneys and bhortas, one very interesting one made with dried and fried fish).
There was other (savory) food for those who were not Pitha enthusiasts – a rich chicken curry that I was told is called Bangladeshi wedding chicken “roast” (Biye Barir Roast), mutton (goat) kababs, whole tandoori chicken, white chicken kababs, Bengali chana dal (Chholar dal) and puris (Luchi) and festival-style mixed vegetables (Labra).
PITHAS:
