Today I’m sharing another favorite Kerala breakfast dish (I know – every dish is “favorite” for me, but that’s because Malayali food is life). This was my first time making it, and once again I was pleasantly surprised by how simple it was! This version is made with wheat flour (gothambu puttu), but it’s also popular to make this with rice flour (gluten free version). You can serve it with any curry, and many people love it with kadala curry (kala chana). I personally love it with a banana mashed into it.

You do need a special device called a puttu kutti for this. This and this are two great options on amazon!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups wheat flour or rice flour
• 3/4 to 1 cup water with 1 tsp salt mixed in
• 1-2 cups frozen ground coconut (alternatively if you have unsweetened coconut flakes, you can grind it with a little water in a blender to make it more like ground coconut)

Directions:

• In a large shallow pan, dry roast the flour over low-medium heat. Stir frequently to make sure it is evenly roasted. You want the color to be slightly darker than the raw flour. This probably takes a good 4-5 minutes of stirring.

• Remove pan from heat.
• Little by little, add a few spoons of the wtaer (with salt dissolved) to the flour, mixing with a wooden spoon each time you add water. You want to achieve a breadcrumb type consistency. It’s ok if there are some lumps in there, but it is better to smash them out with the wooden spoon so it’s more grainy like bread crumbs.

• In the bottom part of the puttu kutti, fill 2/3 of the way with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium.

• While water is set to boil, take the cylindrical part of the puttu kutti and place the flat disc in the bottom.
• Add a small handful of coconut, then a handful of the flour mixture, then coconut, then flour, and finally top with coconut.

• Top the cylinder with the enclosure piece.

• Place cylinder onto the bottom vessel snugly. Let steam for 10 minutes.
• Carefully remove the cylinder from the bottom vessel and remove the top enclosure.
• With a long thin spoon handle or thin rolling pin, slowly push against the flat disc side over a plate and allow the flour/coconut log to rest on the plate. Do this slowly so the the puttu stays together as much as possible and doesn’t crumble.
• Serve hot with mashed banana or curry of your choice!