Puttu (Steamed Rice Cake)

Aha – there will be hardly a Keralite who doesn’t like puttu. Also known as steamed rice cake, this is a wonderful dish that we have for breakfast. While the traditional side for this dish would be a kadala (black chickpea) curry(Recipe posted), puttu also goes well with any non-vegetarian gravy dish too. There is a special vessel in which the traditional puttu is made – called the puttu kutti (cylinder). In my case I have gone for the coconut shell shaped bowl which is placed over a pressure cooker.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Rice flour
• 1 cup grated coconut
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• Water & Salt as required

Wet or moisten the rice flour, add salt and cumin seeds and rub them with your hands until you get wet crumbles by adding little water.

Grind the flour for couple of seconds.

(I have my aluminium coconut shell shaped vessel in which I cook my puttu with the help of my cooker. I add 2 cups of water and close the cooker without the weight. You can add water to your puttu kudam and boil as well).

In to the vessel, add freshly grated coconut and top with rice flour and then coconut and repeat the process until the vessel is full. Donot press in the mixture too tightly.

Cover and keep it on the top of the kudam or cooker and cook for about 5 minutes after steam starts coming out of the vessel.

Transfer to the serving dish.