Tale of Puttu and two events

I didn’t like puttu...oops! I uttered that word…that’s like a food crime in Kerala. Can you imagine an American saying ‘I don’t like cheese’?

What cheese is to America is what puttu is to a Malayalee. If you can read Malayalam, go to this blog specially made for all puttu fans. So you know how crazy Kerala is about puttu, especially since it is Kerala’s own simple and easy breakfast. I disliked puttu before marriage since what I tasted was always hard and chewy.

Since God is funny, my husband loves puttu! He loves to eat it 24/7. No kidding, but puttu enjoys a more important place in our house than yours truly. I think Malayalee wives can understand that plight of mine.

Now, for puttu you need a puttu-maker or at least a pressure cooker and a chiratta (coconut shell). To complicate things, there is even a Bamboo Puttu Maker:). There are many puttu recipes from fellow Malayalee bloggers like RP, Priya, Reshma and a lovely pictorial link from RP's blog.

But how will someone without all these gadgets make the simple puttu?

Puttu is just the simple process of steaming roasted rice. Yes, you don’t need a complicated puttu-maker, but just a close weaved strainer and a pot that would fit the strainer without leaving any gaps for the steam to escape, just like a steamer basket. It would be good to have a lid which fits the vessel with a hole on the lid for the steam to escape. Now, if you don’t have a lid also, fine, just close with aluminum foil and punch a small hole.

Now you can buy puttu flour at stores. But Ah! You don’t get the real flavour of freshly ground rice with that. This is an entry for For the Love of Rice and I wanted to make it from scratch, yes precisely for the love of rice. (If planning to buy puttu flour from stores, precisely look for 'Puttu Podi' or 'Puttu Flour')

Soak 1 cup of raw rice overnight. Strain the rice next day. Dry the rice completely on a flat tray with a paper towel on the try.drying soaked rice
When the rice is completely dry, dry roast it on low flame for 10 or 15 minutes. The rice should NOT turn brown nor it should change it’s color. It should be roasted until the rice becomes very brittle, that’s all.ground rice
Grind it in your clean spice grinder. You don’t grind it fine like ‘All Purpose Flour’ for puttu. A fine sooji like texture is also okay. Store them. This will store good for one week or so.This ground flour from one cup of rice will make puttu for 4 people.

The next part is to wet the flour. Add salt to the flour. Wet flour should have a texture of wet sand. But it should flow smoothly if you take the flour and drop it. To make this texture, Mix hot water into the flour. Try adding only 1 table spoon of hot water each time until the texture becomes like wet sand. You will get a fantastic aroma, when you wet the flour from freshly ground flour. Keep aside for 10 minutes.wet puttu flour before steaming
Now we are going to make puttu. When buying or selecting the strainer keep in mind that, grated coconut should not fall off from the strainer. Take ¼ cup of fresh grated coconut and spread it on the strainer like a base. Now add wet flour on top of the coconut. Then add ¼ cup of coconut.using strainer instead of puttu gadgetssteaming puttu with close lid
Steam this with closed lid. Make sure the steam doesn’t escape. Cover with kitchen towel on the sides if your strainer doesn’t fit properly. Steam this for 15 minutes. Make sure the strainer bottom doesn’t touch the water in the pot.After 15 minutes of steaming, open lid and take off from heat and flip the strainer with the puttu on to a plate.Serve with bananas, boiled plantains, papad, boiled moong dal, kadala curry or anything you can imagine. I like it with some Fish Curry.

You can add cardamom powder or cumin powder to the puttu flour before steaming to make it aromatic.

I think someone named Ann posted a comment asking me, whether we can make puttu without coconut. Of course! It is upto you. The layering of puttu is protein – carbs – protein - carbs. So instead of coconut, add beans or meat any other protein you would like to add. Anything which you want to steam. I have never tried it, but have heard people trying it. So do at your own risk ;-)

Though innocuous to look at, puttu is a very heavy breakfast. So eat only half the quantity of what you think you can eat.Now what other entry is good for lovely Nandita’s Breakfast Event, than some God’s own puttu?