Kerala’s authentic Kuzhal Puttu aka steam cake is a cylindrical shaped dish of steamed rice flour layered with grated coconut. This nutritious and hundred percent oil free dish is made with the help of a Puttu maker. Puttu maker is nothing but a cylindrical steamer, shaped to resemble the hollow bamboo rods in which they were originally made.. A variation of this is the dome shaped Puttu made in coconut shells or steamers shaped like coconut shells.

Puttu is frequently served for breakfast with various side dishes, such as pappadum, green gram/moong dal, plantain, fish curry, jackfruit, mango, chicken curry or kadala curry. In some areas of Kerala, people eat puttu accompanied by sweet black coffee. In Tamil Nadu, it is served with grated coconut and jaggery made of palm or sugarcane, or with sweetened coconut milk. Adding a layer of spicy meat between the layers while steaming adds an extra kick to the regular puttu.

Biverah Hotel’s Chef Rajesh serves you the basic recipe for this ethnic delight of Kerala - Kuzhal Puttu.

Try it out and make your loved ones a healthy, happy breakfast.

INGREDIENTS

Raw Rice (Pachari)  – 250 gm (to serve 4)

Coconut - 1/2

Water - To sprinkle

Salt – To taste

PROCEDURE

Soak rice in water for 4 hrs.

Leave it to drain and grind it to a fine powder.

Dry roast the powder for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Set aside to cool.

Mix salt with water and sprinkle this on the powdered rice, just enough to wet the powder, taking care not to add too much.

Fill up the steamer, starting off with a handful of grated coconut at the bottom, rice till the halfway point, grated coconut again, rice and then finally top off with coconut.

Close with a lid and steam for 2 minutes.

Fresh, steaming puttu is now ready, to start your day off on a wholesome note.