Geeths Dawath Food Blog
Puttu is a popular dish of Kerala . I first tasted it as a kid at my Papa’s sister late Veena akka’s place in Calicut . She was a wonderful cook and she would make it point to prepare it when she was in Mangalore or whenever we visited her. Though was not a great fan of it then , today it is one of my favourite snack . It makes a very heavy filling . It is served with a combination of chana curry often . Other companions are mutta curry( egg curry ) , steamed Kerala banana , chicken curry , fried papad , kapa curry (tapioca ) etc .
All these years I never was confident to try puttu on my own . I always prepared it with somebodys guidance . But recently my sister Shan taught me the technique and gave me the push which I needed . Thank you dear sister . Now I can prepare it anytime .
Today , here in the space I’m sharing the recipe of my dads sister late Veena akka’s recipe which my sister had saved . Well, in Kerala they specially order the puttu powder and get it done in the mill . But here we use readymade puttu powder which is easily available in the stores . The most popular brand available is ‘Nirapara ‘ which works fantastic to me . The procedure is so very simple , it happens in a jiffy .
One important thing required to prepare puttu is the special puttu utensil which is also easily available in most of the stores . There are 2 types of utensil as far as I know , one which is fixed to the pressure cooker and other comes as a full set known as a puttu steamer. I use the second one . Puttu utensil is cylindrical in shape .
Puttu is a replica of Mangalorean popular snack ‘ Mudo ‘ which I had posted sometime back but tastewise they are totally different . Different types of fillings are used in the puttu like chicken and many other things but commonly used is grated coconut . Stay tuned for the chana curry which will be my next post .
For kadala curry recipe click – here
Ingredients :
Nirapara puttu powder – 1 cup
Water – 1/4 cup approx
Salt – pinch
Sugar – 2-3 tbsp
Coconut – 2tbsp (optional)
Ingredients for the filling :
Grated coconut – 1 cup approx
Sugar – 2 tbsp
Method:
- Mix the filling ingredients and keep it ready .
- Fill the water in the puttu steamer and keep it to heat .
- Meanwhile take the puttu powder in a bowl add salt, sugar and mix it .
- Add water tbsp at a time and mix it with your fingertips .
- Don’t add all the water at once .
- Add only as much as needed .
- Repeat this until you get the consistency .
- To check the consistency take a handful of powder in your fist ,press it like you press while making laddoo , it should hold shape like a shapeless laddoo .
- But when you press it it should crumble .
- The mixture will resemble like crumble .
- This is the right stage to prepare the puttu .
- See that there are no lumps .
How to proceed :
- Take the puttu mould .
- Fill it with a tbsp of coconut filling .
- Add 2 fistfuls of puttu powder .
- Repeat it until it reaches the top of your mould with final layer as coconut .
- Close it with the lid .
- Place the mould carefully over the steamer .
- Steam it for 7-8 minutes or until you get a nice aroma .
- Once done remove the mould carefully and open the lid .
- Wait for 3 -4 minutes and with the help of the puttu skewer push it from the base delicately .
- Serve it hot with the chana curry .
Tips:
- I like the puttu to be a little sweet so I add more sugar .
- But you may reduce it as per your taste .
- You may also skip adding sugar to the puttu powder .
- You may prepare the puttu mixture and keep it outside overnight .
- But add the grated coconut the next morning .
- You may also prepare the puttu mixture and refrigerate it overnight .
- Doing this gives a great result .
- I keep it out overnight and mix grated coconut the next morning .
- You may prepare the puttu mixture and prepare it in batches as and when you need , remaining powder needs to be refrigerated.
- Always check the consistency and then proceed , if it seems to be little dry sprinkle tbsp of water.
