Puttu Kadala
Puttu Kadala – From God’s own country’
Wondering what is “Puttu Kadala”?
In a nutshell, it is a cylindrical steamed rice & coconut cakes! Puttu kadala is one of the famous and lip smacking Kerala dish generally served for breakfast. This is one of my favorites too! My craving for the perfect puttu kadala is endless. Warming flavors, rich and comforting, Puttu Kadala is one of the classic Authentic Kerala Food.
Steamed cylindrical rice cakes layered with coconut and served with hot chickpea curry cooked in coconut tastes absolutely divine.
Puttu kutti is a local name for puttu maker vessel. It looks like a big cylinder either made of Bamboo which is more traditional or stainless steel. Here I have used Puttu Kutti made with Bamboo to give more authentic touch to the recipe. I bought this cute lit puttu kutti when I travelled to wayanad sometime back. Bamboo is a very ancient cookware that was used to steam the food ingredients. Steaming enables food materials to keep their natural flavour, colour, shape, and nutritious value better than boiling and simmering. Fix the puttu kutti on the pressure cooker nozzle and steam it for 15 minutes. There you go. Puttu is ready! Serve this with kadala (chickpea) cooked completely in coconut paste and many more Indian spices. This medley is a prefect treat to your taste buds!
Components of Bamboo Puttu Maker
- A wooden bamboo tube with a stopper at one end, which keeps the food materials within the tube.
- A long bamboo stick with a pointed end.
- A coconut shell coin (a small spherical plate) with small openings at the centre.
- A coconut shell covering which can be placed on top of the steamer.
Ingredients
- Puttu Podi – 1 cup
- Puttu Kutti (Puttu maker ) – 1
- Fresh coconut (Shredded) – 2.5 cups
- Kadala (Black Chana) – 1 cup
- Onion (chopped) – ½ cup
- Garlic (crushed) – ½ tsp
- Oil – 2 tsp
- Curry leaves – 4
- Red chillies (dried) – 2
- Red chili powder – 1 tsp
- Coriander powder – 1 tsp
- Cumin powder – ½ tsp
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Tamarind paste – ½ tsp
- Fresh coriander (chopped) – 2 tsp
- Water – 3 cups
- Dash of salt
Method
- Soak kadala overnight in water. The following morning, drain the water & pressure cook the kadala in 2 cups of water for 3 whistles. Switch off the flame and keep the boiled kadala aside
- In a kadhai, dry roast shredded fresh coconut (2 cups) along with dried red chilies till you get aroma of coconut & chilies being roasted. Allow it to cool.
- Now grind roasted coconut, red chilies, coriander powder & cumin powder in a mixer jar. Add ½ cup water to get a fine paste of it. Keep it aside
- Heat oil in a kadhai, add turmeric powder & curry leaves. Add crushed garlic and stir it.
- Add chopped onion and sauté till onion turns translucent.
- Pour the coconut paste & stir it nicely. Allow it to cook for 2 minutes
- Now add boiled kadala along with the water (stock) in which it was cooked. Add a tamarind paste, red chili powder & salt
- Let it boil completely on low flame for 10 minutes
- Garnish with fresh coriander & kadala is ready
- It’s time to prepare puttu now. Take a plat, add puttu podi in it. Sprinkle a dash of salt & mix it
- Now slowly sprinkle handful of water on podi and start mixing the podi with hands. Repeat this process till you gain a state in which a fistful of podi when pressed tightly stays in the same state. Overall state of the podi should be moist
- Take a puttu maker & place a small spherical plate @ the bottom. This you normally get along with this puttu maker set. .Start filling the puttu vessel with moist podi. Fill it till half of the capacity of the vessel and then put a layer of fresh shredded coconut. Over it, again fill the podi and finally add a layer of coconut again. Close the mouth of the puttu maker & keep it ready
- Place a pressure cooker filled with 2 glasses of water. Remove the whistle. Place the cooked on a high flame & allow water to boil. Close the lid of the cooker and place the puttu maker over the nostle on which you normally place the whistle. Allow it to steam for 15 minutes
- After 15 mins, switch off the flame & remove the puttu vessel from the cooker. Open the lid of the vessel. Now start gently pushing the spherical plate at the bottom using the puttu pin (wooden stick / metallic stick which you get with the set). Gently give pressure so that steamed puttu comes out of the vessel which would be in cylindrical shape.
- Serve these hot steamed puttu with hot kadala. Tastes divine!
