Puttu ( ml, പുട്ട്; ta, புட்டு; si, පිට්ටු) (pronounced ), alternatively spelled pittu ( ta, பிட்டு), is a dish native to the

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union terr ...

n states of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

, and parts of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

, as well as Eastern and Northern Provinces in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. ''Puttu'' means "portioned" in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

. It is made of

steamed Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American southwest, steam pits used for cooking hav ...

cylinders of ground rice layered with coconut shavings, sometimes with a sweet or savory filling on the inside. Puttu is usually a breakfast dish served hot with either sweet side dishes such as

palm sugar Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar is sometimes qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed ...

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", disting ...

, or savoury with chana masala,

chutney A chutney is a spread in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion or mint dipping sauce ...

, rasam, or meat curries.

Ingredients

''Puttu'' principally consists of coarsely ground rice, grated coconut, little salt and water. It is often spiced with

cumin Cumin ( or , or Article title
) (''Cuminum cyminum'') is a

wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ''bre ...

or red

rice flour Rice flour (also rice powder) is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye. Rice flour is a common substitute for wheat flour. It is also used as a thickening ...

without cumin, whereas the

Bhatkal Bhatkal, is a coastal town in the Uttara Kannada District of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bhatkal lies on National Highway 66, which runs between Mumbai and Kanyakumari, and has Bhatkal railway station which is one of the major railway s ...

recipes have plain coconut or ''masala'' variant made with mutton- or shrimp-flavoured grated coconut. In

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

, the outside is made of a mixture of rice flour and ground ''moong dal'', while the filling is a mixture of coconut flakes and a type of caramelized sugar that is similar to ''

dulce de leche ''Dulce de leche'' (; pt, doce de leite), also known as caramelized milk, milk candy or milk jam in English, is a confection from Latin America prepared by slowly heating sugar and milk over a period of several hours. The resulting substance, ...

''.

Preparation

''Puttu'' is made by slowly adding water to ground rice until the correct texture is achieved. Using hot water would improve the softness of ''puttu''. It is then spiced, formed and steamed with layers of grated coconut. ''Puttu'' is generally cooked in a metal ''puttu kutti'' vessel with two sections. The lower section holds water and the upper section holds the ''puttu'', where the rice mixture is inserted with layers of grated coconut. Perforated lids separate the sections to allow the steam to pass between them. A number of alternative cooking vessels are used, such as traditional vessels where a perforated coconut shell is attached to a section of bamboo, or a ''chiratta puttu'' made of a coconut shell or of metal shaped similarly to a coconut shell. Chirattuputtu

Other types of cooking vessels include a pan similar to an ''

idli Idli or idly () is a type of savoury rice cake, originating from the South India,popular as breakfast foods in Southern India and in Sri Lanka. The cakes are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils (de-husked) and ric ...

'' pan with small holes in the bottom, pressure cookers and, mainly in the

Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago ( Indonesian/ Malay: , tgl, Kapuluang Malay) is the archipelago between mainland Indochina and Australia. It has also been called the " Malay world," " Nusantara", "East Indies", Indo-Australian Archipelago, Spices Arc ...

, hollow bamboo stalks.

Serving

''Puttu'' is often served along with gravies, like fish curry,

chicken curry Chicken curry is a dish originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is common in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Great Britain, Caribbean, and Japan. A typical curry from the Indian subcontinent consists of chicken stewed in an onion- a ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

curry or ''kadala'' (

chickpea The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its different types are variously known as gram" or Bengal gram, garbanzo or garbanzo bean, or Egyptian pea. Chickpea seeds are h ...

) curry, and '' papadum''. Also plantain,

jackfruit The jackfruit (''Artocarpus heterophyllus''), also known as jack tree, is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family ( Moraceae). Its origin is in the region between the Western Ghats of southern India, all of Bangladesh, ...

, mango or banana is commonly served with it. In southern Kerala people eat ''puttu'' accompanied by sweet black coffee. In

it is served with grated coconut with

jaggery Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Africa. It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm sap without separation of the molasses and crystals, and ...

made of palm sugar or sugar cane, or with sweetened coconut milk. In

, ''puttu'' is usually accompanied with

tripe Tripe is a type of edible lining from the stomachs of various farm animals. Most tripe is from cattle, pigs and sheep. Types of tripe Beef tripe Beef tripe is made from the muscle wall (the interior mucosal lining is removed) of a cow's ...

curry, fish or a meat curry, coconut milk and a ''

sambol Sambal is an Indonesian chilli sauce or paste, typically made from a mixture of a variety of chilli peppers with secondary ingredients, such as shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, and lime juice. ''Sambal'' is an Indo ...

''. In Kerala, ''puttu'' is served with

or plantain, ''kadala'' curry, ''payar'' (green lentils) '' thoran'' with ''papad'', fish or meat curry. There are also many improvisations and experiments done on ''puttu'' in Kerala. Wheat and maize flours are used instead of rice in certain parts. There are also ''puttu-''specialised restaurants that serve it with different fillings.

Variations

Some variations of ''puttu'' use other grains such as wheat flour, ''ragi'' (finger millet) flour, tapioca and corn flour. The layered filling of coconut can be replaced by other foods, such as egg curry or banana. ''Puttu'' prepared in a ball shape are called ''manipputtu''. ''Puttu'' can also be made using bamboo rice. Muslims in Kerala eat a version of ''puttu'' called ''irachiputti'' in which rice is layered with spiced mincemeat. ''Puttu'' is also very common in

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

. It is usually sold by hawkers and is served as a snack. It is often misspelled ''poutou'' and should be spelled ''putu'' in

Mauritian Creole Mauritian Creole or Morisien (formerly Morisyen) ( mfe, kreol morisien, links=no ) is a French-based creole language spoken in Mauritius. English words are included in the standardized version of the language. In addition, the slaves and in ...

. The ingredients are the same—rice flour, sugar and desiccated coconut, but cooked in metal cylinders.

Similar dishes

Maritime Southeast Asia Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor. Maritime Southeast Asia is sometimes also referred to as Island Southeast Asia, Insular Southeast Asia or Oceanic Sout ...

, there are numerous similar dessert dishes known as '' kue putu'' in Indonesian, '' putu bambu'' in Malay, '' putu piring'' in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and '' puto bumbong'' in

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Taga ...

. They vary by preparation and ingredients but are also steamed in bamboo tubes and are served with sugar and grated

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...

. In

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

, ''kue putu'' is characteristically green due to the use of ''pandan'' flavoring. It is commonly found being sold by traveling vendor carts together with '' klepon'', which is actually ball-shaped ''kue putu''. In the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, ''puto bumbong'' is deep purple in color due to the use of a unique rice variety called '' pirurutong''. They are culturally significant as a common traditional

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

dessert. '' Puto'' in the Philippines is also a general term for traditional steamed rice cakes.

World record attempt

In 2006, students of the Oriental school of Hotel Management in

Wayanad Wayanad () is a district in the north-east of Indian state Kerala with administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern ...

in north Kerala made a 10-foot-long ''puttu''. They cooked the giant ''puttu'' in a specially designed 12-foot-long aluminium mould, using 20 coconuts and 26 kg of powdered rice. It took about one and a half hours to cook.

References

External links

{{Sri Lankan cuisine Indian cuisine Tamil cuisine Kerala cuisine Sri Lankan Tamil culture Rice dishes Foods containing coconut Steamed foods Sri Lankan rice dishes Mauritian cuisine