Millet Puttu

Puttu or Rice cake is a traditional breakfast dish of Kerala. It’s indeed a healthy steamed dish with zero oil, freshly grated coconut and roasted rice flour. You can get a detailed recipe here. Puttu is often enjoyed with a spicy Bengal gram/kadala curry, bananas and fried pappadams, though it tastes equally good with any spicy peas masala curry, chicken curry, fish curry or cherupayar (green gram) curry. Some people enjoy it with milk and

sugar or ghee and sugar too. Here is a version made with millets. I have used finger millet (ragi) and jowar/sorghum. You can make puttu with whole wheat flour, corn/maize flour too. I especially love bread puttu.

I personally liked the jowar puttu more than the ragi puttu. Jowar puttu is almost similar to the rice puttu in flavour, though the ragi has a strong distinct taste of its own. You may add more rice flour and less ragi for a milder flavour. Always add water very slowly when you are preparing the puttu flour. If there are too many lumps in the wet flour, please blitz it in a mixer jar for few seconds or add a spoon of dry flour. I have as usual used a 240 ml cup. If you do not have a puttu mould, you can see other options here. Please do check.

Ingredients:

• Ragi flour 1/2 cup
• Jowar flour 1/2 cup
• Roasted rice flour 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Water as required
• Grated coconut 4-5 tbsp

Method:

• Roast the ragi flour for 4-5 minutes till it turns aromatic. Transfer onto a mixing bowl and cool.

• Repeat the same with jowar flour and place it in a bowl.

• If desired add little roasted rice flour to the ragi flour and mix well.

• Add salt in both the bowls. Sprinkle water slowly and moisten the flour till it resembles wet sand or bread crumbs.

• Allow the flour to rest for 15-20 minutes. If the flour appears verh dry, sprinkle some more water.
• Take a puttu maker and rinse it. Place the perforated plate at the bottom and sprinkle half a tablespoon of grated coconut.
• Slowly and gently, scoop some prepared flour (to around 3-4 inches in height) over the coconut.
• Sprinkle some more coconut and repeat with the flour mixture till you fill the mould. Top it with more grated coconut.
• Fill the lower part of the puttu maker with water and bring to a boil. Place the filled mould over it and cook till you get thick steam emerging out of the lid, say around for 6-8 minutes.

• Remove the mould carefully (it will be very hot ) and remove the cooked puttu onto a plate.
• Repeat the same with the jowar flour.

• Serve it hot with kadala curry, bananas and Kerala pappadams.