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Puttu
Posted by Mathy Kandasamy | Filed under Sri Lankan, Rice flour, Archives
Let’s begin this post with a story.
I might profess being an agnostic nowadays. But, one tends to remember the stories one read and heard as a kid. This is one such story. And the “dish of the day” plays an important role in the said tale.
In Hindu Mythology we have million and one stories and counting. In Tamil, Lord Shiva is supposed to have 63 most ardent devotees. And they are called ‘Nayanar’. The following story involves one such Nayanar and his name was ‘Manickavachagar’. Literal translation being ‘gem like lyricist’. And it’s true. The sheer beauty of Manickavachagar’s poetry and its cadence still captivates me. So what happened is this. Manickavachagar was a minister under the King of Madurai, a city in Tamil Nadu. Manickavachagar somehow displeases the King. And the King punishes Manickavachagar by throwing him in jail and torturing him. What happens after that???
At once the Lord caused a heavy flood in the river Vaigai. There was panic everywhere in the town. The people could not understand the cause of this untimely flood. The soldiers who were guarding Manickavachagar also fled. He went to the temple. He worshipped Lord Somasundarar and was completely absorbed in meditation. The king was puzzled. He wanted to save the city from destruction. So, he ordered everyone in the city to bring one basketful of mud and throw it on the bank of the river to stem the flood. Everyone, except an old woman by name Vandi, did so. She sold Pittu and eked out her livelihood. She was so much devoted to Lord Somasundarar that she would daily offer it to Him first and then sell it. She was in distress.
She prayed to the Lord for help. Lord Siva, out of His compassion, appeared as a labourer before the old woman and offered his services in return for a handful of Pittu. With a dirty cloth around his waist and a basket on his head, he would sing and dance and then put the mud on the bank of the river. He ate her kind offering and threw the mud with such force that it caused new breaches! For some time he would sit idle and again sing and dance. The king’s servants found the breach not closed where the Lord was working and reported the matter to the king. The king who personally supervised the work, noticed the idleness of the labourer, and hit him with a stick. The Lord threw the mud on the breach and it was closed. The blow, however, was felt by all beings in the whole universe. The king at once understood that it was all the Lord’s Lila. He recognised the greatness of Manickavachagar. At that time, he heard an invisible voice: ‘Oh king, your entire wealth was spent on Me and My Bhaktas. By this act Manickavachagar earned for you great merit. Instead of being grateful to him, you have tortured him. The jackals turning into horses, and this sudden flood, were all Lilas performed by Me for the sake of My devotee. At least now open your eyes and learn a lesson for your future.’
You can read the full story (short version) here. or here (long version).
The ‘Pittu’ mentioned here might have been the same one as I cooked last week. Or the present day ‘Puttu’ could have metamorphised with the times.
Puttu (w) Mango
Puttu could be declared as the national food of Sri Lankan Tamils. We could compete with the Keralites for the title. Puttu used to be the undisputed breakfast King back in Sri Lanka. The method might sound a bit complicated, but it’s quite simple actually.
What’s difficult is the preparation of the ‘Puttu Maa’, rice flour. But, this flour would be prepared only once a month or so. Red raw rice and white raw rice would be taken at a ratio of 1:2 or 1:1.5. The rice would be washed and spread out to dry on clean cloth for an hour so. This rice would be pounded manually earlier. Later, flour mills were used to powder the rice. Powdered rice would then be slow roasted, seived and stored. Nowadays puttu rice flour could be bought in Sri Lanakan stores all over the world (generally in areas with dense Sri Lanakan Tamil population).
Recipe:
Rice Flour - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Hot water
grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Add salt to the rice flour and mix. Add hot water in small quantities and mix the rice flour nicely. I use a wooden spoon for this. Be very careful. If you have added too much water, sprinkle some rice flour. But, purists would rather start with a fresh batch. One of my uncles does it! I’m not kidding. He claims that sprinking rice flour to balance the stickyness makes for a hard puttu. Puttu is supposed to be soft and fluffy.
Borrowing ‘Malabar Spices’ Mallugirl’s words:
The rice flour should be wet enough to hold together when you try making a fist with it and dry enough to break apart at a simple knock with the thumb. It shouldn’t be clumpy or too powdery. Keep breaking it with the hand as you mix. The amount of water varies with the kind of rice flour used. So keep adding in small quantities.
I use the Indian tumbler to crumble Puttu flour after mixing it with water. Or you could run it for a minute in the food processor.
Add grated coconut to the puttu mix. I make puttu once in a blue moon, so I tend to be quite generous with coconut. You can add even one teaspoon grated coconut and live with it.
Ok guys, If you are still with me and are still enamoured of puttu. The going is quite simple after this. All you need now is a rice cooker steamer. Yes, those vegetable steamers! That would do! Traditionally we use special cylindrical puttu pans made of bamboo or metal. Quite similar to the one our Malayali friends use. Well, Sri Lankans still use them. There are other kinds of puttu steamers too. Quite similar to the one above, which is appriopriate for a big family. People like me, who try not to clutter the kitchen with gadgets and who take pride in multi-tasking go for these rice cooker steamers. All you need would be a muslin cloth.
Place the muslin cloth on the steamer and gently spread the puttu mix. Wait for the water to boil and place the steamer on top. Wait for the steam to come out or for about 10-15 minutes. Take a pinch and press the puttu. You’ll know that the puttu needs to be cooked more if it doesn’t spring back to it’s original shape.
Puttu is quite versatile. It could be had with a little bit of sugar and/or banana/mango. On the other hand puttu could be eaten with a lot curries. I know somebody who wants no less than five different curries. Spicy curries generally tastes good with puttu. Both veg. and non-veg curries would go well with puttu. My personal favourite is crushed appalam and puttu. Yummy!
A Variation:
wheat puttu (w) squid curry
Puttu could be made with wheat four too. I’ve used regular white wheat flour sold in the super market. There’s a catch here. You need to steam the wheat flour quite well. Let it cool down and seive it. Otherwise the procedure would be the same. Wheat flour needs considerably less water.
Experiment in small quantities. That’s the key here!
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February 14, 2007 -
Sri Lankan, Rice flour, Archives -
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I cannot blv this! How come then Tamilians in India dont like it at all?
How about the Sinhalese? Do they eat it? Wow! I didnt know there is a pittu mythology too! Loved your site!
InjiPennu,
Welcome. It’s good to see you here.
//How come then Tamilians in India dont like it at all? //
I dont know if the Tamilians in Inida dislike Puttu. It’s rather the case of not being aware of Puttu. Maybe the Tamils living in the Southern most tip of Tamil Nadu might eat it. It could be because of the close proximity to Kerala. But otherwise my Tamilnadu friends are not familiar with Puttu. Dont know when they lost the recipe.
Abt Sinhalese. I think they do eat it. They got it from the Tamils.
//Loved your site//
Thanks! InjiPennu. It sure feels good to get comment from people like you. Thanks.
-Mathy
lovely story there. and puttu is one of my favourite dishes. thanks for the pictures and recipe.
I came over here from Mahanandi today (there was a link to this post) and was happy to find this lovely, detailed recipe.
I wanted to add to your discussion: I’m Tamilian from Malaysia, and there we do eat puttu quite regularly. I wonder if this is because there are many Sri Lankan Tamils in Malaysia, too? In fact puttu is often sold by the same vendors who sell string hoppers, another Sri Lankan Tamil specialty, if I’m not mistaken? But the puttu these vendors sell is a bit different — it’s steamed in bamboo pipes, I think, and then they cut it into cylinders about 4 inches long, which makes it easier to transport and sell than the home-made type pictured above. Mathy, I’m eager to try your recipe — thank you for sharing it!
My grandfather ate puttu with curries, just as you describe, but the rest of us prefer it plain with sugar (I have also heard of others eating it with banana and/or mango, yes). In Malaysia it is so well loved that the preparation of puttu was even adapted by the Malay community for its own unique version, known as “puttu piring” or (translated into English) “plate puttu” — these are white puttu steamed in special molds, shaped like small, dainty idlis. These puttu cakes are then eaten with coconut and brown sugar.
Jacob: Thanks for stoping by. Good to meet fellow puttu aficionados.
Preeta: Thanks a lot for coming by and sharing so much. As you said Puttu and string hoppers (idiyappam in Tamil) must have come from Sri Lankan Tamils. I have read about bamboo pipes being used to cook rice mixed with chicken, herbs and spices. Read about in ‘Eating Asia’ blog.
Talking about Puttu Piring - it made me remember a Filipino dish named ‘Puto’. It’s made from rice. There must be more than one way of making it. One kind I ate was steamed and could be had with some palm sugar and coconut. The other one contains egg and is quite tasty. The taste vaguely reminds one of cake too. I’ve read about both the kinds in food blogs. Let me get the link for you.
Steamed Puto: http://www.pinoycook.net/index.php/recipes/recipe/bibingka-and-puto-bumbong/2
Cake like Puto: http://desarapen.blogspot.com/2006/03/lp-8-puto.html
-Mathy
Hi Mathy, Inji
I am from chennai and I love puttu. coconut, puttu, and sugar - with or without milk is the ideal combo at our home.
Mathy your explanation about puttu and story of Murugan is very nice -
I am a Tamil from Chennai too and am familiar with it. We make puttus - not frequently, but maybe once a year? My mother’s version used to have jaggery, coconut and cardamom? And I remember her steaming the flour in an Idli pan. I cannot remember more details clearly as I have not been to India for a few years.
For Tamilians in India, I would consider puttu as a special dish made for special occasions and have seen many non-veg restaurants advertise fish related puttus and seems to be a specialty of some regions of tamil nadu and I don’t know much about it as I am a vegetarian.
Hi Mathy, Inji,
I am a Tamilian from Tirunelveli. Everyone in my family loves Puttu. My mom used to make alteast once a month. I make once in a month here in US too. I love to eat with Moong dhal,Papad and Banana. My Husband freeks out with coconut,Sugar & ghee. Tamilians may not make Puttu that often compared to Keralites but they do like it. I like your site.
I am a Bengali with connections to the South of many years. I have very happy memories of eating some excellent puttu at my aunt Jayammal’s home on Halls Road in Chennai. Sadly, the house has disappeared behind some ugly stores and developments. I still have memories of the puttu, fresh coffee decoction, the kolam being put down in the early mornings and the smell of jasmines from the porch. On a recent visit, I found the house decrepit, but the old jasmine vine on the verandah was still blooming bravely. Can one ever hope to re create the beautiful aura of old Chennai?
Please keep up your good work and restore these lovely lost recipes along with stories linked to them.
Hi Mathy
Your post was beautiful though I could not grasp “how” puttu would be. Guess I have to get myself invited and eat it to know
Preeta,
Here the link from EatingAsia blog
http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2005/09/streetside_swee.html
http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2006/08/sugar_bomb_chen.html
I am desperately looking for a recipe for something called mani puttu which I used to eat in Sri Lanka but cannot find any except for the usual puttu recipes as the ones above, can anyone help? This puttu seems to be made up of short pasta like pieces and then steamed as usual in a puttu steamer.
I am also desperately looking for the recipe for mani pittu. If you have it by now, please share.
Thank you.
Olive
Michael & Olive: I have finally got the recipe for mani puttu. It sound quite interesting. Will share it as soon as I make it. Thanks to your comments, I learnt a srilankan traditional recipe.
-Mathy
My introduction to eating red rice puttu ( steamed in a bamboo cylinder ) with fish/ chicken curry was after I got married to my husband who is of Sri Lankan origin. Took a while for me to get used to it as we grew up having rice puttus with bananas and brown sugar for breakfast almost 2-3 times a week. Yum!
[…] It could also be used to remove waste from the yard. We had 5-6 kadaham for different purposes. Puttu would be steamed in containers made just for this purpose. Well, being versatile, the same ‘puttu […]
marie:
I love puttu with bananas & brown sugar too. Thanks for visiting.
Hi Mathy,
Have you tried the recipe you found for mani pittu? if so, how was it? I am eagerly awaiting for it.
Olive
Olive: Sorry. I’ve been looking for good coconuts. Couldnt find any. My friends have been asking me about it too. Soon. Sorry to make you wait. I myself am quite excited. Cannot wait to test out this traditional recipe.
-Mathy
Hi Mathy,
Guess what? I tried out the mani pittu. I was able to purchase steamed American wheat flour. I know that it is rather tricky making stringhoppers with steamed flour - you gotta have the right temperature of water. A recipe I have for stringhoppers says that you have to pour the boiling water into a jug and wait exactly two minutes before you use it and I followed this for the pittu.
I used about two cups of steamed flour and mixed it with enough water (salt added) to knead a “fairly” soft dough. I pressed out the dough using the big hole platelet in long lines on a sheet of waxed paper that I had spread some flour. Then I filled the pittu bamboo, gently, with the strings of dough and steamed it.
I made two small pittus and ate both myself !! (my children are of mixed parentage - my husband is from Guyana and I know they wouldn’t even try it). The pittu was good with coconut milk and lunu miris. Try it.
And, have a nice weekend. It’s a long one for us here in Canada - Queen Victoria Day.
All the best.
Olive
Olive: Oh Wow! Double Wow!!
I’m still putting this away. Just the steps involved and the sweet factor is making me hesitate.
Olive, I have an idea. Can you take some photos and write about ‘Maniputtu’ next time you make it? I would be very happy to have you as a guest writer. What do you think?
You can reach me at: mathygrps at gmail dot com.
-Mathy
Hi Mathy,
Will try to remember to take pictures when I next make it. But you had said that you were looking for good coconuts to make the mani pittu. Does the recipe you have call for coconut milk? Why don’t you let me have that recipe and I will try it?
Cheers,
Olive
The link to our blog (thank you) led me to this wonderful post. Do Tamils in India not eat putu? I was under the impression that our Tamil-style putu here in Malaysia (and all Tamil specialties, in fact) migrated with Indian Tamil workers years ago.
I was just in Penang and observed a Tamil vendor making putu mayam (string hoppers) the old-fashioned way, with a wooden press for the ‘noodles’ and steaming them on inverted bamboo trays (rather than on metal). His string hoppers were colored green with pandan leaf. He also made putu (or, puttu), and packed them into into small metal cups rather than into bamboo tubes. He told us that it took him 6 months to master the art of turning out perfect puttu and string hoppers.
Did you know the Philippines also has a version — well, several of them, actually — of puttu?
i love your recipes ,because the way your presention is hmmm….vah kaya kahanaa.