Sunday 3 June 2012

Puttu (Steamed Rice Cake)

Puttu is a  nutritious , fast ,healthy(oil free) recipe for breakfast.Puttu can be made from white rice, brown rice,wheat flour,ragi,corn etc. Puttu is made with layers of these alternating with coconut .It is made by wetting the flour gradually with water until the correct texture is achieved.





The puttu kadala is a very famous  and one of the favourite breakfast for us Mallus.Puttu is also made in Tamilnadu and also Srilanka.In my home it is the Sunday morning breakfast.My amma makes the white rice puttu , brown rice(chemba) puttu and the wheat (godambu)puttu.But now we also get ragi and corn puttu powders in markets so there is more variety.My mom added these two varieties too.

I make the rice varieties often and that too i mostly make the brown one as Navin prefers that .By the way its his favourite and has  become one of our Friday breakfast menu( the Dubai weekend!!) My amma says he  must have been a south indian last janam.I say " God sent Navin to a north Indian family by mistake and then to compensate  gave him a south Indian wife!! LOL.


I remember Rocky and Mayur of HOMP came down to Kerala  and missed out having puttu kadala and then they came a second time and kept telling that they wanted to  have the" evasive "puttu. So if they can come down to Kerala specially for having our puttu , I think its worth a try at your place.My personal favourite is the wheat puttu.

Another funny  mention of the puttu kadala was  in the Vodafone zoo zoo advertisement.HAHAHA.. yes it is there.!!!When the zoo zoo goes around the Statue of Liberty it says puttum kadalem!!!! You can check it out here

Puttu is normally made in a puttu kutti.Earlier these used to be made of copper.Puttu was longback made in sections of bamboo or in coconut shell(chiratta).Hence the name chiratta puttu.
 
But i have made it in my chiratta puttu mould  .As we are  only 2 people, three  puttus made in that are more than enough.

I also measure out the quantity required by putting it into the mould.If you require 3 puttu , 2 fully packed moulds of puttu powder will be sufficient or measure 3/4 of the mould for each puttu you want to make..The powder expands after being mixed with water.

So here it is- the famous puttu from Kerala.The kadala curry recipe is here


Utensils required

Pressure cooker and puttu kutti/chiratta mould

Ingredients

2 moulds puttu podi or puttu powder
Water to dampen the powder  as required
Grated coconut about 1 and 1/2 cups

How i made puttu

Measure the required quantity of powder. I used roughly 2 packed moulds.(the pictures have the old blogname)


Take water little by little and sprinkle on the puttu powder and keep mixing.Take care just to sprinkle water and not pour .You should be able to hold the flour in your hand like picture shown below.


 When you can do that the flour is ready to use.
This is the main thing which determines the quality of  your puttu.(the second one being  the steaming time)

Once the flour is ready,  put a little coconut in the bottom of the mould ,followed by the flour.Then again layer the coconut on top.

You can steam this mould by keeping it on top of  a pressure cooker filled with about 2 cups of water.
Remove the whistle and keep the mould on  the cooker . Steam for about 3 minutes. (steam will come from the puttu mould too by this time)
Remove from cooker and demould into a plate.
Puttu-kerala breakfast made with  rice flour and coconut
White rice puttu

Puttu-kerala breakfast made with wheat  flour and coconut
godhambu puttu/wheat flour puttu





Serve with kadala curry( chole.)
I also like to have it with sugar and milk.A very very famous combination in Kerala is puttu , banana and pappadum.Honestly, I dont like it but you may try it out  !!

Note: I dont add salt to the puttu (normally everyone does)
you can also mix  in some grated cocnut to the flour but i avoid it as in case i have to store it for a few days , i dont  want the coconut going stale and the taste changing.(and eventually having to throw it out)

In case you have the flour leftover  you can store it in the fridge in an air tight container.( I have stored upto a week's time).

So all the best with your  puttu. Do drop a comment for any doubts !!Encouragement will always be appreciated.

Puttu-kerala breakfast made with flour and coconut








2 comments :

Thank you for stopping by my blog and taking time to read the post.Hope it has been useful to you.Do let me know by leaving a comment below.It will take only a few seconds to leave a comment but the happiness and encouragement it will give me will last long!Thank you.
Cheers,
Renu