Puttu with homemade puttu podi and kadala curry

Puttu and kadala curry is a typical Kerala breakfast. The beauty of it is it has carbs, proteins, minerals and other nutrients and is tasty too. Keralites  can’t avoid this sumptuous breakfast hence we make it once in a while. 

Before, I used to buy the flour for making puttu but recently started making the flour at home. So in this blog post I will include the recipe to make the puttu flour, recipe to make puttu and the recipe to make kadala curry. Kadala curry recipe is of my mother-in-law

Ingredients for homemade puttu podi

Red rice ( I use a variety called jolaga)- 1 cup ( you could use any other variety brown or red raw rice too)

White rice – 1 cup (I use sona masuri)

Basically the rice should be raw rice and not boiled rice  ( I am not talking about cooked rice here : )

Method

• Wash, clean and soak both the rice together for about 4-5 hours.
• Drain the water and spread the rice in a clean cotton cloth, so that it becomes fairly dry but still retains little moisture. That’s for about an hour.
• Now take the rice and grind in the mixer, remove the jar from the mixer and shake it often so that all the rice is ground (I do it, hence).
• Rice will not be finely powdered, but that’s ok, ignore.
• Repeat this process with the remaining rice.
• Now keep a huge skillet or a kadai or a wok on the stove and put this rice flour into it. Take a huge turner (the biggest you have) and tart stirring the flour. If you see lumps forming try breaking it as soon as possible. Else it gets hardens, but worry not it can be broken while making puttu too.
• Now while you keep stirring it, you will see the moisture starting to vaporise and a nice aroma of roasted rice flour starts to come. Keep doing this for a minimum of 15 – 20 mins. Remove the wok from the stove and empty the flour to another big plate to let it cool.
• Now this flour stays good outside the refrigerator for weeks. But make sure the moisture is completely gone.
• So here your rice flour is ready

Puttu recipe

Rice flour – 2 cups (for the about homemade puttu podi recipe you will get two cups of roasted rice flour)

Water – About 1.5 cups

Salt – 1 tsp

Method

Now take a huge bowl and put the flour into it, mix well with the salt. Add water to it.

Mix the flour and water with your fingers just until the flour is damp.

Test: when you gather the flour it should form a ball in your fist and when you break it should fall back as powder ( I am trying my best to explain this  J )

We have a different appliance to make puttu, lower portion i filled with water and in the top portion we fill this damp rice flour layered with grated coconut.

Pic courtesy :http://www.hotdishes.net/Indian_kitchen_Appliances/Stainless_Steel_Products/Puttu_Maker/Puttu_Maker_*Puttu_Kudam~/

• Fill water half way in the bottom portion( the vessel shaped )and place it on the stove.
• Take the upper portion or the cylindrical portion it will have a small circular plate with lots of holes as the base, sprinkle some grated coconut, add a portion of rice (approximately that much you can hold in your palm) then layer with coconut and repeat until the cylinder is full. Top and bottom layer with grated coconut (preferably).
• By then the steam would start coming from the vessel in the stove, place the cylinder on the mouth of the steamer. Let it cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from stove, wait for about 5 minutes before you push the puttu from the cylinder. Use a ladle to push out the puttu ( recipe might sound funny, trust me its fun ;) )

So puttu is done.

Ingredients for kadala curry

Brown chana/brown gram  - 1 cup

Onion – 1 medium

Ginger – one inch

Green chillies – 1- 2

Coconut – ½ cup grated

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Chilli powder – ½ tsp

Coriander power – 2 tsp

Pepper power – ½ tsp

Garam masla – ½ tsp

salt

For the seasoning

Coconut oil  - 1 tbsp

Mustard- 1 tp

Dried red chillies – 2-3

Curry leaves –

Cried coconut pieces

Method

• Soak the chana/ gram overnight.
• Make a paste of coconut and keep aside.
• Wash the chana well and cook in the pressure cooker along with onion and ginger.  After the first whistle keep it in sim for about 20 minutes to let it cook well.
• Once the chana is cooked add all the spices and salt and coconut paste and let it boil.
• Remove the curry from the stove.
• Season it by keeping a small kadai on the stove, add oil and then add the mustard to splutter, add the curry leaves, red chillies and coconut and pour it over the curry  also  sprinkle some garam masala on top.

Thus you platter is ready J

 Serve it hot. 

You could also serve with green gram curry, banana, sugar and pappadam.

thanks 

Chaithanya