Rosh bora recipe | Bengali rosh bora | Bengali sweet recipe | Bengali pitha

What is rosh bora?

Rosh bora is a Bengali name where rosh refers sugar/ jaggery syrup and bora means fried pakoda or fritters. These are cottony soft and completely juicy sweet fritters which is complete enough to compliment anyone’s sweet tooth. It is also known as Rosh fuluri in parts of Bengal. Rosh bora recipe is one of the incredible creations of our ancestors. Though it is not so popular outside Bengal, but it is prepared by Bengalis every year during poush Sankranti since ages.

Poush parbon aka Makar Sankranti is celebrated in the month of January every year. Here, Makar refers Capricorn and Sankranti means transition. In the subcontinent of India, this festival is celebrated with different names and different types of food. Basically, it’s one of the harvest days when new rice is harvested. My mother used to prepare myriad Bengali pitha puli with it.

I still remember how my mom used to prepare more than fifteen types of pithe puli during poush parbon including patishapta, puli pitha, nolen gurer payesh, dudh puli, pua pitha, malpua, rosh bora and many more. She used to spend her whole day in kitchen to prepare those traditional Bengali food. On that day, our house used to smell heavenly with the flavour of nolen gur and Bengali pitha preparation. Still, she prepares huge varieties of pitha puli for relatives, friends and closed ones.

I have sweet tooth and am very fond of Bengali pitha. Poush Sankranti is always one of my favourite festivals because we can get various kinds of sweet dishes during this festival. Rosh bora is one of them.

Rosh bora is a super simple recipe. It gets prepared very easily without investing much time and effort. It could be a perfect makar Sankranti recipe for beginners. It requires only few basic ingredients which are easily available in any Bengali kitchen pantry. The best part of the recipe is that it can be prepared in huge batches without investing much effort.

Rosh bora recipe with step by step photos and instructions have been provided in the ‘Instructions’ section of the recipe. I have included all the tricks and tips below and in the instruction section to prepare soft and juicy Bengali rosh bora.

Tips to prepare perfect rosh bora

How to make rosh bora?

To prepare rosh bora, wash the urad dal aka biulir dal 2-3 times and then soak it for at least 8 hours or overnight. It is very important to soak the dal properly for perfect rosh bora. Then next day drain the excess water from the dal and wash it one more time.

Transfer the urad dal into a jar of a grinder and add some water. Grind it to a smooth paste. Make sure no grains are there. I have used 100 ml water to grind the dal.

Then transfer the paste into a large bowl and add fennel seeds and salt. Beat the batter in circular motion for 5-6 minutes with a fork to make it airy.

Check whether beating is done nor not by dropping small portion of the batter in a water filled bowl. If it floats, then it’s done. If not, then beat for another couple of minutes. Cover the batter and keep it aside for half an hour.

On the other hand, take a large utensil and add sugar and water to make a syrup. First allow the sugar to melt completely. Add cardamoms for flavouring of the syrup. Then boil the syrup for another 10 minutes on high flame till sticky. Switch off the flame.

Now put a pan on the flame and add enough oil to deep fry the bora or fritters. Check the oil by dropping a small portion of the batter into the oil. If it floats, then the oil is ready.

Wet your hand in water and pour small portions of the fritters into the oil. Wetting hand resists the batter to stick to your hand. Don’t overcrowd the pan and fry the fritters over medium to medium high flame till golden brown in colour. Drain the excess oil and transfer them on a tissue lined plate for a minute to absorb excess oil.

Transfer the bora or fritters into the hot sugar syrup for 10-15 minutes.

Repeat the process and fry bora or fritters with rest of the batter. Soak the bora in sugar syrup into batches. Once older batches of bora absorb the syrup, transfer them to a separate container with some syrup.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup Urad dal (Biulir dal)
• ½ teaspoon Fennel seeds
• ¼ teaspoon Salt

• 2 cups Sugar
• 4 cups Water
• 4 Cardamoms
• Oil to deep fry the Bora

1. Wash the urad dal aka biulir dal 2-3 times and then soak it for at least 8 hours or overnight. Then next day drain the excess water from the dal and wash it one more time.
   

2. Transfer the urad dal into a jar of a grinder. Close the lid and grind it to a smooth paste. Make sure there are no grains. Add water if required. I have used 100 ml water to grind the complete dal.
   

3. Transfer the paste into a large bowl and add fennel seeds and salt. Add some more water if you feel the batter is too thick. Beat the batter in circular motion for 5-6 minutes with a fork to make it airy.
   
   

4. Take water in a bowl and check whether beating is done nor not by dropping small portion of the batter into the water. If it floats, then it’s done. If not, then beat for another couple of minutes. Cover the batter and keep it aside for half an hour.
   

5. On the other hand, take a large utensil and add water, sugar to make a syrup. First allow the sugar to melt completely.
   

6. Add cardamoms into the syrup and allow it to boil for another 10 minutes on high flame till sticky. Then switch off the flame and cover the pan.
   

7. Now put a pan on flame and add enough oil to deep fry the bora or fritters. Check the oil by dropping a small portion of the batter into the oil. If it floats, then the oil is ready.
   

8. Wet your hand in water and pour small portions of the fritters into the oil.
   

   Note: Wetting hand resists the batter to stick to your hand.
   

9. Don’t overcrowd the pan and fry the fritters over medium to medium high flame till golden brown in colour.
   

10. Drain the excess oil and transfer on a tissue lined plate for a minute to absorb excess oil.
    

11. Transfer the bora or fritters into the hot sugar syrup for 10-15 minutes.
    

12. Repeat the process and fry bora or fritters with rest of the batter. Soak the bora in sugar syrup into batches. Once older batches of bora absorb the syrup completely, transfer them to a separate container with some syrup.
    

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