Kerala Puttu

The main ingredients of the traditional puttu is coarsely ground rice flour and grated coconut. The rice flour is made moist and shaped into a cylindrical shape using the “Puttu Kutty”. The puttu kutty or the puttu kuzhal is a vessel with 2 parts. The lower part (also called the Puttu Kudam) holds water. The upper part (puttu kutty) is cylindrical and holds the moist rice flour layered with grated coconut. It is then steamed. Nowadays puttu kutty is avaiable in the shape of a coconut shell (Chirata Puttu). There is also putty kuttys that can be fitted on top of the pressure cooker instead of the puttu kudam. These models are compact and occupy less space.

You can make puttu with home made puttu flour or store bought. You can find puttu flour in most Indian super markets and grocery stores. You could also make with regular rice flour available in markets. If using rice flour, I would recommend dry roasting it for few minutes before making the puttu. This will prevent many lumps from being formed.To make puttu flour at home, start by washing 1 kg of raw rice. White raw rice or Kerala Rosematta rice can be used. Then spread it on a clean towel and let it air dry. Once it is completely dry, powder it using your home mixie or get it done in a flour mill. Once powdered, roast it on a low flame in a frying pan or a kadai. This takes any remaining moisture and extends the shelf life of the flour. It also gives a nice nutty taste to the puttu. Store this puttu flour in a dry air tight container. This stays good at room temperature for many months.The advantage of making puttu flour at home is that you can mix varieties of rice while making the flour like black rice, rosematta rice, red rice etc. to make it more healthy and flavorful. Well, you can also mix up store-bought puttu flour varieties to make life easy.