A steamed cylinder of rice flour layered with grated coconut, creating a soft and crumbly breakfast staple.
A Kerala breakfast at least three centuries old, with cousins across the Malayali-speaking coast and into Sri Lanka (pittu). The bamboo steamer (puttu kutti) gave way to aluminum cylinders mid-20th century but the geometry is unchanged. The dish predates wheat penetration into south India — rice and coconut were what the household had.
Kerala breakfast at least three centuries old, steamed in a bamboo or aluminum cylinder. Hydration is everything — about 25–30% water by weight, rubbed in until the rice flour clumps when squeezed but falls apart when poked. Too wet and it pastes; too dry and the cylinder won't hold.
A pale cylinder of rice flour and grated coconut, steamed in a bamboo or aluminum tube and pushed out whole onto the plate. Crumbly, almost dry, with sweet pockets of coconut. Eaten with kadala curry (black chickpeas), small bananas mashed in with sugar, or fish curry from the night before. The crumb should fall apart with a fork; if it's gummy, the flour was too wet.
Hydration is the whole game. Rice flour gets sprinkled with water and rubbed between palms until it just clumps when squeezed but falls apart when poked — about 25–30% water by weight. Too dry, the puttu won't hold; too wet, it steams into a paste. Layering coconut every inch is structural — it breaks the rice into eatable strata so the cylinder shatters cleanly.
Variations
Kerala plain rice puttu pairs with kadala (black chickpea) curry; ragi puttu uses finger millet for darker, denser cylinders; Sri Lankan pittu adds wheat flour and coarser coconut; chiratta puttu is steamed in a coconut shell.
On the Palate
Where Puttu sits in the Indian flavor cloud
Ingredients
How it's made
5 steps · 30 min
- 13 min
Mix rice flour with salt and water to form a crumbly texture.
Watch outRub water into the rice flour until it just clumps when squeezed but crumbles when poked — too dry it won't hold, too wet it steams into paste.
- 25 min
Layer rice flour mixture and grated coconut in a puttu maker.
- 310 min
Steam the layers until cooked through and fragrant.
Watch outSteam until the rice turns from chalky to translucent and the coconut smells sweet — that's when the layers have set enough to slide out whole.
- 45 min
Remove from the steamer and gently push out the puttu.
- 515 min
Serve warm with banana or curry.
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