Puttu

Puttu Pic Credit : Priya Q

I was at Varkala in one of the restaurants on the cliff when I noticed a vague thing on the menu called Bamboo cakes. It took me few minutes to guess that i was actually the delectable puttus that they were calling bamboo cakes in the interest of the tourists. Hmm..you need to have the puttumaker but trust me its worth it!

Coconut shaving – 1 cup
Rice powder – 3 cups
Salt – 1 tsp
Water

1.    Sprinkle salt over the rice powder and add water little by little.
2.    Mix with hands and keep adding water till you reach a consistency where in you can make balls out of the powder but breaks easily.

3.    That’s the consistency you are looking at!

4.     Leave aside for 10-15 minutes before you start making puttus
Well you need to invest in a vessel to make puttu…this is how it looks

The compartment below is filled up with water. The perforated plate at the bottom of the tubular structure prevents the mixture from falling into the water below and allows the steam from the water to travel up cooking the mixture in the process! Isn’t the technology cool!

1. Now in the tubular compartment add coconut shavings first then 3 Tbsp of rice powder alternatively.
2. The first and the last layer should be that of coconut.
3. Remove the tubular structure once you see steam coming out and push out the puttu to a serving plate.
4. Serve with Kadla (chick peas) curry / vegetable stew / sugar!

You can also make puttu with semolina (rava), corn powder and raagi powder… the one with Semolina is Q’s favorite. Btw, while making puttus with semolina….you can immediately start making puttus…no need to wait for 10-15 min.

Till tomorrow…..happy cooking!