Pua

Maithili is a language spoken in mithila, which is the north eastern part of bihar. Legend says it is the land of Sita, daughter of King Janaka and consort of King Rama. The dialect is Indo- European and it is more like Hindi or sanskrit.

Pua is a sweet dish made like poori. I had the chance to taste this dish while at Adampur in punjab from Sinha uncle's (My father's colleague) residence.

Ingredients:

• Milk :500 ml
• Sugar :300 gms
• Maida(Flour) : 250 gms
• Kismis(Raisin) : few pieces
• Cardamom powder : 1/4 tsp
• Desiccated Coconut : few slices
• Banana : 4-5 nos
• Oil for frying

Method:

 

Boil milk and cool. Add sugar to the milk and let it dissolve. After the sugar is completely dissolved add the maida to the milk. Mix well so that you get a very smooth batter. There shouldn't be any lumps in the batter. The batter should not be very thin. If the batter looks thin add some more maida for a thicker batter. Let the batter rest for half an hour. Meanwhile chop the raisin & the coconut slices. After half an hour add the raisin, cardamom powder, coconut and mashed bananas to the batter & mix well.

 

Heat oil in a kadhai. Pour a ladle of the batter in to the kadhai. The pua will puff up like a puri. Cook on low heat till both the sides turn golden brown.

 

Pua can be had on its own or with Rabdi.

 

Tip:

 

Do not keep the batter for a very long time after adding the bananas. If you do not want to make pua out of the entire batter add bananas only to that portion of the batter that you will use.