Usually the dish Puttu or poot as we call it in konkani is thought to be a keralite dish !! But our GSB people had long ago adapted & modified it to suit amchi tastes! So that’s how we have Godda poot & thiksani (spicy ) poot !
So lets see how we can make this very tasty amchi dish !
Basically a puttu maker / Puttu Kutti is needed for this – the traditional one with a bottom vessel to hold water & a long cylinderical top portion in which we fill the poot flour . Nowadays we also get a – Chiratta puttu maker which is small & handy & easy to use !
Traditionally to make poot ..rice was soaked for about 2 hours …then water was drained & spread on a cloth to dry ! then it was pounded ( now you can do it in a mixer ).. and then roasted till warm . you have to be careful so that the colour remains white !
But we get rice flour meant specifically for puttu making from stores !so we can use that easily! You can make plain poot also without jaggery ..we ususally have it with Chonya Dali Humman
So lets see how we can make this very tasty amchi dish !
Basically a puttu maker / Puttu Kutti is needed for this – the traditional one with a bottom vessel to hold water & a long cylinderical top portion in which we fill the poot flour . Nowadays we also get a – Chiratta puttu maker which is small & handy & easy to use !
Traditionally to make poot ..rice was soaked for about 2 hours …then water was drained & spread on a cloth to dry ! then it was pounded ( now you can do it in a mixer ).. and then roasted till warm . you have to be careful so that the colour remains white !
But we get rice flour meant specifically for puttu making from stores !so we can use that easily! You can make plain poot also without jaggery ..we ususally have it with Chonya Dali Humman
Ingredients for sweet poot :-
- Rice flour – 2 cups
- Coconut grated – 1 cup or more
- Jaggery – 1/2 cup or as per taste
- salt – a pinch
- Water ( preferably coconut water ) – as needed
Method :-
- Mix the flour , salt & a portion of the grated coconut .
- Sprinkle the water little by little so that you get a crumbly texture . the correct consistency is when you hold a little of the dough in your hand & press it ..it should stay together like in the pic below !
- Now keep this aside for about twenty minutes !
- Now get your puttu steamer ready !
- I have this type which is very handy for me ! place the perforated disc at the bottom ! then add some grated coconut !
- Now Half fill the vessel with the prepared poot flour!
- Now add the jaggery & grated coconut separately in layers or as a mixture!
- Now fill it again with the flour !& close it with the lid!
- Now add some water to boil in a pressure cooker !
- When the water is boiling place the poot steamer on the whistle nozzle of the cooker like this !
- Let this steam for about 10 minutes or until you see steam arising through the lid!
- Now remove the steamer ..open the lid & invert it on a serving plate !this will usually be enough for one person ! serve with a ripe banana & pappads !
Usually puttu made in Kerala homes will have only rice flour & salt in their puttu with coconut as layers. but we amchis want to refine all taste according to our “jibbe ruchi”!
So we go ahead & add coconut too in the poot flour ! My amma used to joke that her mother used more coconut than flour but the taste was just awesome!
As always another version is to add chopped chillies ,chopped curry leaves & some jeera to make spicy poot !
This can be served with a lot of various options like banana , pappads , Kadala curry ( black chick-pea ), milk and sugar & so on . my mother used to make Choniya Daali Humman with this & the memory of that combination still makes me drool !
You can also use ragi flour instead of rice flour in the same way to make ragi puttu !
Enjoy trying out all these options!
Konkani Khann Anik Jevan 