புட்டு , நண்டு கறி , வெளமீன் பொரியல் , நெத்திலி பொரியல்……..
Basically hailing from the Southernmost part of Tamilnadu, closer to Kerala, our cuisine is a combination of several authentic recipes from both the states.
Puttu is one of our favourite breakfast items. It is a common item in Southern India and SriLanka. Interestingly while surfing the internet, I found that Puttu variants are common in Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Phillipines and also in Mauritius.
According to Wikipedia, ” Puttu (Malayalam: പുട്ട്), pronounced [ˈputtu], (Tamil: புட்டு), (Sinhala පිට්ටු ) is a South Indian and Kerala breakfast dish of steamed cylinders of ground rice layered with coconut. ”
Some variations of puttu use other grains such as wheat flour, tapioca and corn flour.
The primary and tricky step in Puttu making lies in the preparation of perfectly ground rice flour and roasting it. The texture is neither too coarse nor too fine. The ground rice flour can be stored airtight for quite a while. Nowadays, we have Puttu flour available readily in many grocery Stores. However, the taste of homemade flour is unbeatable!
On the day of preparation, the rice flour, is moistened with salted water, mixed well, and crumbled. The mixture should not get soggy. In a ‘Puttu Kuzhal’ (Puttu cylinder), fill in the flour upto half the level, add a layer of grated coconut, and fill the remaining layer again with puttu flour. Place this on the steaming pot of the Puttu apparatus. Nowadays, just the puttu cylinder that fits on pressure cooker (like the one shown in the above photo collage) is available in market and is very handy.
Though Puttu can be served with a variety of side dishes like Pappadam (Pappad), Payaru (Steamed green gram), Fish or meat curry, Kadala Curry (Channa Curry), Sugar, Banana, jaggery and so on, we personally love Puttu served with Fish curry and fish fry.
The photo exhibits Rice Puttu, Nethili (Anchovies) Fish Fry and Nandu (Crab) Masala made by my Husband and his friend. Ya, you heard it right! 🙂
The taste of Puttu mixed with banana and sugar and rolled into small balls, never fail to bring in nostalgic memories of my childhood and the hand that fed it to me, my Grandma!
