Kerala Puttu Recipe | How to Make Soft Puttu at home | Kerala Style Kuzha Puttu Recipe

Steamed Rice Flour Logs with Grated Coconut 

Happy New Year folks.. This is my first post this year and I have been prepping this post for a while now ;) and is quite a long one too. And finally the nuances and details that I have learnt so far in making the yummy and healthy Kerala puttu is here for you all to read.

Puttu, a staple breakfast (or dinner too) of the Kerala cuisine is everything but soul and comfort food to many Malayalees.. Healthy, easy on the tummy as well as to prepare, it is one of the best breakfasts that can be had. And that would definitely be one dish that Mallus miss while going abroad to countries where Kerala restaurants are not very widely found. You can make the course as simple as you want with just the puttu paired with some bananas and sugar or make it as heavy as you like for an elaborate dinner menu with erachi puttu and the likes :)

Puttu with the spicy Kadala curry (black chickpeas gravy) or Cherupayar curry (Green Gram gravy) features regularly in our weekend breakfast menus :) And my little one likes it the best with small bananas (Njali Poovan) and sugar. Also the deep fried pappadom (pappads) can be served with any combo, be it the kadala curry or cherupayar gravy or with bananas. It just complements with everything and takes up the meal a notch higher ;) Sometimes we have the puttu paired just with the pappadam. Even that is a different combo and tastes yum.. And the baap (father) of all these combos is puttu with Nadan Chicken curry.

At times when we feel like having a Kerala special dinner, we make puttu with the chicken gravy and fried chicken. That combo is just bliss and can make a mallu feel at home even when you are miles apart from the God's own country ;) And last but not least there is one more way you can eat puttu, that is with fish curry.. Be it the fiery red fish curry without coconut (Meen Mulakittathu) or the yummy creamy coconutty yellow fish curry (Kerala Fish curry with coconut), each makes the puttu taste yum and divine and brings back a lot of fond food memories to every Malayalee, right? ;)

Another way of making this simple dish more rich & heavier is to make erachi puttu. Here instead of the coconut layer in between the rice flour layers you prepare a masala using beef and use that as the stuffing. It tastes really yum and for this you do not need any other side dish :) You can also do many variants of this puttu like chicken keema puttu, chemmeen (prawns) puttu, pazham (banana/fruit) puttu and many more. Just let your imagination go wild and you can come up with many options and varieties. In Kerala, there are is a chain of restaurant "Dhe Puttu" which serves you exclusively with wide varieties and combinations of puttu. If you like puttu and would love to try some yummy and exotic varieties then you should definitely try this restaurant when you are in Kerala..

Now coming to how to prepare this easy yet yummy dish.. Traditionally in olden times , puttu was steamed in bamboo logs, which gave the puttu a nice aroma and an earthy fragrance. Nowadays we use the aluminium or stainless steel puttu kudam (bottom pot like vessel) and kutti (upper cylindrical log vessel). If you do not want to buy the puttu kudam then also you have an option to make puttu. You get to buy the puttu kutti alone which can be used in combination with a pressure cooker to make puttu. You take water in the cooker and boil it with the lid closed. When water starts to boil, steam will come out the nozzle (where you insert the weight) of the pressure cooker lid. Then gently place the puttu kutti (It comes with a small insertable hole at the bottom) on the pressure cooker nozzle and steam as you would generally do with a normal puttu kutti.

If you do not have any sort of puttu kuttis or apparatus with you to make puttu, still you can make puttu. Prepare the flour and spread them on idly plates and steam that in an idly cooker or pressure cooker. Finally when done, take the steamed rice flour in a bowl or vessel and add grated coconut and mix and serve. There is yet another versatile way that is still followed in many Kerala households, using coconut shell aka chiratta :) With that all you need is a pressure cooker to make the yummy puttu. If interested read here on how to make the yummy Chiratta puttu without a puttu making apparatus :D And nowadays the shell shaped stainless steel apparatus (that resembles the chiratta) is also available in markets :)

Now that we have talked quite a lot about the apparatus to make the puttu, let's discuss on the rice flour details. Basically the puttu flour is nothing but coarsely ground rice flour.. Either white rice or red rice or a combination of both can be used. If you are buying the rice flour, there are many brands available in market. The white rice flour would be called puttu podi and the red rice flour would be called chemba puttu podi. My mom buys the packet flour whereas my mil still partly follows the traditional way of prepping the rice at home and giving them to flour mill to be ground to the coarse puttu podi. And me and most of my friends can vouch that this way of preparing the flour guarantees the softest puttu that you can ever make or would have ever had :) It is way way way better than any store bought brands and packets of puttu podi. If you have access to a mill then I would strongly recommend you to follow this method as you can wow your family and friends with super soft homemade puttu :)

She uses white raw rice (pachari) and red rice (matta) in the ratio of 3:5. She rinses the rice in water and then dries them on large dhotis or cloth. Then they are given to the mill where it is coarsely ground to the puttu flour. If you are giving large quantities then they also roast the flour after grinding them. If they are not roasting it, make sure you do that. Roast the flour for a few minutes (4-5) before using. If you do not use the flour frequently, make sure that you roast them and store as it increases the shelf life and reduces the chance of them getting molds. Another method that I follow when I run out of store bought and homemade puttu podis is that I make them myself. I soak 1 cup red rice and 1 cup raw rice overnight in water. Then next day morning I drain them for sometime say 30 minutes. It should not become completely dry, some moisture should be there. Then grind them coarsely without water. You need not roast this podi nor add water and prep it. Just add salt and make puttu directly with it :) This method I learned from a dear blogger friend Rafee :) And also you can prepare puttu using flours of other cereals like wheat, sorgum (cholam/corn), ragi and oats in addition to rice.

And now coming to how to prepare the ground and roast puttu podi or rice flour, I have detailed 2 methods below. I used to generally use the first method for store bought flour and second method for the flour given to me by mil (the one where the flour is ground in flour mill). But nowadays I find that I can use the second method for store bought flour as well. It makes the prep easier as well as confusion free as you need not bother about the quantity of water required to prep the flour ;) So I know that I have talked a lot today but wanted to share all that I have learnt and experienced so far and hence went ahead and wrote this quite a long post :) Hope some of you might find this useful. If so do write back so that it makes my day too :)

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

 

Serves : 2 persons

I Used:

Rice Flour/Store Bought Puttu Podi	-	1 cup *(refer notes)
Salt	-	½ tsp
Water	-	1 cup (or As Needed)
Grated Coconut	-	½ cup

The Way:

Method 1:

I use this method with store bought puttu flour. This method is slightly tricky as you need to eyeball and decide the amount of water needed for the rice flour. And the quantity of water depends on the quality of the rice flour that you are using. Nowadays I sometimes follow the 2nd method for store bought flour as well. If the water ratio is more for that particular flour, then I add little more flour and adjust and vice versa.

1. Take the puttu podi/flour in a wide pan/vessel and add salt as needed

2. Now start sprinkling water little by little and mix the podi/flour, a little at a time, with your finger tips. Mix thoroughly and make sure there are no lumps present. Wet the flour a small portion at a time so that it is easy to handle and also ensures that the lumps formed are lesser and easier to break. You can see that the volume of the flour increases once you start adding water to it

3. The amount of water required depends on the quality of the puttu podi/rice flour that you use. And the softness of the puttu depends on the flour and water ratio. If the water is less then the puttu will turn dry and if the water is more it will turn lumpy and you will not get the nice grainy texture

4. Hence mix the flour well till you reach a breadcrumb consistency. The flour should be wet and not lumpy. You can test for the right consistency by pressing a small portion of the flour in your fist, it should form a firm shape and not crumble. When you press it a little more it should break and crumble

5. Break all the tiny crumbs with your finger tips. You can do this by taking small batches of the wet flour in the small jar of the mixer-grinder and grind them using the pulse option (only). This will ensure a smooth and lump free flour (for pics see method 2)

6. Now take 2 cups of water (2/3 rd of the base vessel) in the base vessel. Keep on stove and heat it

7. Meanwhile, let's fill the cylindrical part with the puttu podi/flour. First place the perforated disc inside the cylindrical vessel. Then add 2-3 tablespoon of grated coconut in the cylindrical vessel. It should be spread evenly and should not stay in a slanting position

8. Then gently add 2-3 handfuls of the prepared flour evenly on top of the coconut in the cylindrical vessel. The amount of flour to be added depends on your preference and the length of the puttu kutti (cylindrical vessel). If you want 2 pieces of puttu, then fill almost half of the kutti with the prepared flour. Alternate with 2-3 tablespoons of grated coconut. If you want three pieces of the puttu from one kutti, then fill about 1/3 rd of the kutti with the prepared flour and alternate with 2-3 tablespoons of grated coconut

9. Once done cover the top portion with 2-3 tablespoons of grated coconut and spread evenly. Close with the top lid

10. By now water must have come to a boil in the bottom vessel. Now place the cylindrical vessel on top of the bottom vessel. In the pic you can see that I have used a small piece of cloth at the top of the cylindrical vessel. This is because after long use (or if the quality of the vessel is poor), the bottom of the cylindrical vessel starts to crack. Then the steam from the bottom vessel will start to escape through those cracks rather than steaming the puttu in the cylindrical vessel. In order to prevent that the top of the bottom vessel is covered with a wet cotton piece of cloth which does not allow the steam to escape

11. After placing the cylindrical vessel of top of the bottom vessel, steam the puttu on high flame till you see steam releasing from the top vents of the lid. Then reduce the flame to sim and allow it to steam for another 4-5 minutes

12. Then switch off the flame. Carefully remove the top part of the vessel from the bottom part. The vessel will be very hot and hence handle carefully. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes

13. Using the back side of a spoon or the stick that comes with the puttu vessel, gently push the steamed puttu from the bottom end of the cylindrical vessel and allow it to slide on to a plate or a serving dish

Method 2:

This method I religiously follow for the rice flour that is ground in mills. The 1:1 ratio of flour and water just works perfectly fine every time. Here raw rice (pachari) and red rice (matta) are taken in the ratio 3:5 and rinsed well and dried. Then is given for grinding into coarse flour in flour mills. Then it is roasted on a low-medium flame for 4-5 minutes. And you can store this roasted flour in air tight containers for future use. While making puttu, follow the below steps.

1. Take 1 cup rice flour in a wide pan/vessel. Add the salt and mix

2. Now add 1 cup water (same ratio as the rice flour) to the rice flour. Do not mix, just pour water to the rice flour and allow it to rest for 15-20 minutes

3. After 20 minutes, you can see that the rice flour has absorbed all water. Now using your fingertips gently break the flour and make it lump free. The flour would have doubled in volume now. Do not omit this step, else the flour will be lumpy and will not become grainy as needed

4. Now take small batches of the prepared flour in the small jar of the mixer-grinder and grind them using the pulse option (only) for 2-3 pulses. This will ensure a smooth and lump free flour (for pics see method 2)

5. Now take 2 cups of water (2/3 rd of the base vessel) in the base vessel. Keep on stove and heat it

6. Meanwhile, let's fill the cylindrical part with the puttu podi/flour. First place the perforated disc inside the cylindrical vessel. Then add 2-3 tablespoon of grated coconut in the cylindrical vessel. It should be spread evenly and should not stay in a slanting position

7. Then gently add 2-3 handfuls of the prepared flour evenly on top of the coconut in the cylindrical vessel. The amount of flour to be added depends on your preference and the length of the puttu kutti (cylindrical vessel). If you want 2 pieces of puttu, then fill almost half of the kutti with the prepared flour. Alternate with 2-3 tablespoons of grated coconut. If you want three pieces of the puttu from one kutti, then fill about 1/3 rd of the kutti with the prepared flour and alternate with 2-3 tablespoons of grated coconut

8. Once done cover the top portion with 2-3 tablespoons of grated coconut and spread evenly. Close with the top lid

9. By now water must have come to a boil in the bottom vessel. Now place the cylindrical vessel on top of the bottom vessel. In the pic you can see that I have used a small piece of cloth at the top of the cylindrical vessel. This is because after long use (or if the quality of the vessel is poor), the bottom of the cylindrical vessel starts to crack. Then the steam from the bottom vessel will start to escape through those cracks rather than steaming the puttu in the cylindrical vessel. In order to prevent that the top of the bottom vessel is covered with a wet cotton piece of cloth which does not allow the steam to escape

10. After placing the cylindrical vessel of top of the bottom vessel, steam the puttu on high flame till you see steam releasing from the top vents of the lid. Then reduce the flame to sim and allow it to steam for another 4-5 minutes

11. Then switch off the flame. Carefully remove the top part of the vessel from the bottom part. The vessel will be very hot and hence handle carefully. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes

12. Using the back side of a spoon or the stick that comes with the puttu vessel, gently push the steamed puttu from the bottom end of the cylindrical vessel and allow it to slide on to a plate or a serving dish

Enjoy hot with kadala curry or cherupayar curry or banana and sugar or pappadoms :)

Notes:

• If using home made rice flour or mill ground flour, make sure to roast the flour for a few minutes before prepping the flour for making puttu
• If you do not have the apparatus for making puttu, you can prep the flour and spread them on idly plates and steam them for 5-7 minutes in an idly cooker or pressure cooker. Also you can make chiratta puttu (refer the link for details)
• For more methods on how to make puttu without the actual puttu kudam & kutti, read the foreword of this post 

Cheers,
Chitz