Puttu or Steamed Rice Cake

Puttu or Kerala’s own steamed rice cake is easy to make. All you need is roasted rice powder and a bit of scraped coconut. 

My memory of puttu making takes me yet again to Trivandrum and to my maternal grandmother. Until the end of 80’s most middle class families in Kerala were self sufficient when it came to milk, egg and vegetables. Each family had one or two cows, a few hens and a vegetable garden. At my grandmother’s place, if it was puttu for breakfast, she could be seen supervising the milking man and her maid while her hand would be busy kneading the puttu dough. She had no time to spare so wherever she went, the vessel accompanied her. She would exchange a bit of gossip with the milking man who comes early in the morning, scold her maid and also try to coax my grandfather to get some fresh fish. Oh! how I miss her still! 

I tried my hand at puttu making only after I got married. All along I thought the secret of a good puttu was to make the dough lump free but that was laid to rest by my FIL. He taught me another secret too, while trying to eat the dry puttu that I had painstakingly made for him. He said it does not have enough water and the secret to gauge it is to take the dough in your palm and press it. If it stays together, then it is done, else you need to add water. Thank you Achaya!

But here in Kuwait all I need is my food processor and the right amount of water. My hands don’t even have to touch the rice powder! Anyway, here’s my puttu made with the smallest puttu maker. More common is the longer ones. Earlier they used to be made with bamboo too.

Puttu or Steamed Rice Cake

Ingredients

1.      Lightly Roasted Rice – 2 cups

2.      Water – ¾ cup

3.      Salt – ½ tspn

4.      Coconut – as per your taste

Knead the dough by adding water in small quantities. Don’t forget to add salt! As I said earlier, you can test the dough by pressing it in your palms. Try to get rid of as much as the lumps to get a smooth puttu or else it will turn out like the puttu provided in school and college hostels! One would need lots of curries or tea to swallow the puttu.

Method

Take the puttu steamer and out a Tspn of coconut. Fill the dough until the brim and top it with more coconut. Once the steam starts coming from the top, wait for 2 minutes and transfer it into a plate. 

Continue this process until you finish the dough. Puttu can be eaten with banana or with curries like black channa or egg roast.

Kerala's Puttu is similar to Assam's Pitha. If you don't have the puttu maker you can steam puttu using a good cloth which is steamed over a narrow necked vessel. Hop over to the following blog to get a better look!