20 Jun Father’s Day Special–Puttu Two Ways
The fathers in our lives are the unsung heroes of the family and there should probably be more days to celeberate these men who quietly go about supporting their loved ones.
This Father’s Day we treated the King of our Pride to Prawn Puttu. Puttu is a steamed rice and coconut cake popular in South India. It is versatile in that can be eaten with sweet sides like banana and sugar/honey or with savory sides like green gram or other curries. It is usually steamed in cylinder with a small hole at the bottom to let the steam enter from a water reservoir.
A perforated disc is placed at the bottom of the cylinder to prevent the contents from falling out and to support the base of the cake when pushed out.
The Puttu is pushed out with a rod through the hole at the bottom of the cylinder much like a piston and syringe.
You can find these Puttu Makers and the Puttu rice flour (Puttupodi) at Indian Grocery stores. I found these on line as well.
You could also just layer it in a bowl or ramekin and put it in a steamer.
For Fathers Day, I made the usual kind with plain coconut and a variation where the moistened rice flour is layered with a mixture of chopped Prawn Masala (recipe for Prawn Masala in previous post) and unsweetened coconut.
We start with Puttupodi which translates to rice flour meant to make Puttu. I like the Red ( Chemba) variety made from red rice, but the white one will work too.
The tricky part is mixing the flour with water. If you add too much water it will form a dough, if you add too little water it will be dry. Your goal is a wet sand consistency where if you press it hard it will form a shape but if you rub it gently between your fingers it will fall apart as Dylan demonstrates.
We start with the flour and mix in salt.
Then we add the water a little at a time. I use a 1/4 cup measure to add the water a little at a time. One cup flour to 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons water is a good approximate ratio. It is important not to be heavy handed when moistening the flour. As you work the flour, gently break up any clumps that form until it reaches the wet sand consistency.
Covering the moistened flour for 30 minutes helps to get a light and soft Puttu.
Unsweetened grated coconut (I use thawed frozen coconut available in Indian grocery stores) is then layered alternately with the moistened rice flour. If you are only using coconut and not Prawns, the sweetened baking coconut can also be used.
If using the cylindrical mold, don’t forget to put the perforated disc into the cylinder first or you wil not be able to get it out in one piece! Then put in about 2 Tablespoons of grated coconut.
Followed by half cup of moistened flour and repeat till you reach the top ending with the coconut.
Fill the steamer half full with water. Put the lid on the cylinder and place over the steamer making sure the steam outlet of the steamer is inserted into the cylinder.
Place it over highest heat that the steamer can take. Once the water comes to a rolling boil you will see steam rising through the top of the cylinder. Five minutes from this point, your Puttu is cooked and ready to be served by using the rod to push it out on to the serving dish.
Each section separated by the shredded coconut will come apart easily and is a serving portion. By changing the amount of flour between the shredded coconut, you can change the serving size. As is, this is vegan, gluten free and delicious with banana and sugar or honey.
We also made it alternating with a mixture of chopped Prawn Masala and shredded coconut instead of plain shredded coconut.
It was a happy Father’s Day!!
Ingredients Servings: 6
1 cup Puttupodi ( Rice Flour for Puttu)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup plus about 2 Tbsp water at room temperature
1 cup shredded coconut or a mixture of 1 cup chopped Masala Prawn (recipe in previous post) and 1/2 C grated coconut
Water for Steamer
Method
1. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Using two 1/4 cup increments and then Tablespoon increments make a moist flour that resembles wet beach sand as described above.
3. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes.
4. If using the cylinder insert the perforated disc first. Put 2 Tbsp of shredded coconut (or Prawn mixture) over the disc and then 1/2 cup of moistened flour over the coconut. Repeat all the way to the top, ending with coconut (or Prawn mixture).
5. Put the lid on the cylinder. Fill the water reservoir of the steamer, close it and place the cylinder over it. If using a ramekin place it in the steamer. Five minutes after the steam appears on the top of the steamer, remove and serve warm.
6. If using plain shredded coconut serve warm with banana and sugar/honey or other savory curries.
7. Serve the Prawn Puttu warm with a cilantro garnish.