Puttu — cylinders of steamed ground rice layered with coconut, cooked in a specific cylindrical steamer (puttukutti) — is one of the most unusual breakfast preparations in Indian cooking. The dry rice flour and fresh coconut are layered alternately in the cylindrical vessel, then steam passes through the layers from below, cooking the flour through steam contact rather than immersion. The result: a firm, slightly crumbly cylinder with alternating layers of rice and coconut.
- **Rice flour:** Either purchased rice flour or home-ground from soaked and dried raw rice. The flour must be slightly coarse — fine flour produces dense, gluey puttu. - **Moisture content:** The rice flour is dampened with water until it just holds together when squeezed — like wet sand. Too dry and the steam cannot penetrate; too wet and the layers fuse into a solid mass. - **Layering sequence:** Coconut — rice flour — coconut — rice flour — coconut (at the top). The coconut layers allow steam to distribute through the cylinder. - **Steaming time:** 5–7 minutes once the steam is visible emerging from the top of the cylinder. - **Kadala curry:** The traditional accompaniment — black chickpea curry from Kerala. [VERIFY] Bharadwaj's puttu recipe and traditional accompaniments.
Indian Cookery Course