Rava Puttu or Semolina Puttu

Puttu is a very famous and common breakfast item in Kerala. However, it is not a traditional breakfast item from the area of Kerala that I come from, like my parents didn’t grow up eating this. In fact, my mother had received the vessel as a gift from a family friend and she learned how to make it from the Malayalam magazine ‘Vanitha’, she used to read if very regularly earlier.

It so happened that the first recipe she saw was made using semolina or rava or suji and she stuck to that instead of the traditional rice puttu. So we grew up eating rava puttu. We would most commonly have it with banana. Sometimes during my childhood we would have warm puttu mixed with sugar and I also remember having it with sugar and drizzled with tea, perhaps the only way I had tea. Now I only have it with banana, sometimes when I serve it to guests or it is an elaborate planned breakfast I make it with channa curry or kadala curry as it is called in Malayalam.

Ingredients

3 cups a little coarse rava/semolina/suji,

Salt to taste,

Water as required,

3-4 tablespoons of grated coconut

You will need the puttu vessel too

Method

Clean the rava to ensure there are no minute stones.

Heat a kadhai and add the rava. Roast it on a medium flame till every bit is well heated up and a fine aroma emanates. Ensure it does not start browning, that is why it is important to keep stirring it.

Remove from heat and let it cool a bit. Once it is slightly cooled, add the salt and mix well. Now start sprinkling the water bit by bit and keep mixing it, either with a spoon or your fingers. The goal is to moisten all the grains but not drench them in water. Continue doing this till the rava resembles what you can see in the following image.

Once done, cover this with a lid and let it stand for half an hour.

Now place water in the bottom pot of the puttu maker. Place the slotted disc at the bottom of the puttu holder and spread a layer of coconut, next spread about ¾ of a cup of the prepared rava, follow this with a layer of coconut and then repeat the steps till your holder is full. Ensure the last layer is a coconut layer. Top it with the lid and place it on the puttu pot. Place this on high heat …..

Once done, remove the puttu holder and using a knife slip the puttu into a plate. 

Serve hot with your preferred accompaniment, be in banana, sugar, channa curry or green moong curry.

Note:

1. The steps are a little different if you make puttu using rice flour.
2. Once the puttu is ready, ensure you remove it immediately from the puttu holder so it will get soggy.