Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Puttu Kadala / Rice-Coconut Tube with Chana Curry


'Puttu-Kadala' is a Famous Keralaite Breakfast item... Puttu is layered coconut rice mixture steamed in a special mould called 'Puttu Mould' and Kadala is Malayalam for Chana-Black one or Kabooli one. The traditional Kadala curry is made out of black chana which is very tasty and nutritious too!

I prepared it from Kabooli / Choley chana as black ones were over...hubby and kids love this Kabooli chana so much so that the moment it is out of pressure cooker all the three have a bowl ready in their hands to eat the plain salted ones!!

I learnt to make this from my mother-in-law who cooks any dish fabulously!

Ingredients for Kadala Curry :
2 cups chickpeas/ chana (Black/Kabooli)
1 small tomato
3/4th cup coconut
5 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp red chilli powder
Salt
Tadka Ingredients:
1 tbspn Coconut oil
1 tsp rai/mustard seeds
7-8 pearl onions/cheriulli
2 sprig curry leaves

Method for Kadala curry :

Soak the chana in warm water overnight in large vessel as they swell up a lot. Boil upto 8 whistles in a pressure cooker, using sufficient water in the cooker and double water in the vessel with a tsp of salt. Cooked one doubles up in size as you see in the pic.




Next step is to grind the coconut with half measure water with the coriander and red chilli powder into a fine paste. Add this coconut paste to the boiled chana, add chopped tomato and bring to one boil. Finely chop the cheriulli. In a seasoning pan, heat the coconut oil, pop the mustard seeds, add the curry leaves and lastly add the onions and fry till brown. Add to the boiling curry, adjust salt. Cover the lid for flavours to mingle.



This delicious Kadala curry is ready to be served alongside Puttu.






Ingredients for Puttu :
2 1/2 cups rice flour
1 big coconut scraped
300 ml Lukewarm water
Salt

Method to make Puttu:



Take rice flour in a big vessel or a large plate, add around 1 1/2 tsp salt (or as per your taste) mix well. Add water little by little, using hands, mix it into the flour it should resemble bread crumbs and ensure that all the powder has been uniformly sprinkled with water. Use more water if needed.Keep aside.


(left-right Pic : Rice powder ready, coconut kept ready, puttu maker with the water boiling attachment)



Take the puttu maker, layer the coconut first around 1/2 to 1 cm thick, then 3 cms of rice mixture, then again 1 cm coconut, repeat rice mixture, last layer finish off with coconut upto the brim.

Keep the boiling attachment on gas with 3/4th water till it boils, lower the flame, keep this puttu maker and cover the lid. In ten minutes steam arises from the lid. Allow two minutes and put off the gas. Invert it slowly over a plate and using the long spatula handle slowly push out the puttu on a plate. Repeat the process for next puttu. This measure gives an yield of 6 puttu.










Have your fill with a cuppa !!

18 comments:

Meera said...

Wow! purnima, Puttu is somehthing I have never eaten. It really looks nice! "Puttu maker" is on my "must-have" list for a long time. You may already be knowing this, but RCI - Kerala is coming up in January. Your post looks perfect for it. I read about it at Asha's Aroma. It seems currybazaar's Jyothsna is the hostess.
http://currybazaar.blogspot.com/2007/12/announcing-rci-cuisine-of-kerala.html

Shilpa said...

This is on my to-do list for a long time now. I will have to buy a puttu mold sometime. I have never tasted this combo but this looks amazing.

Purnima said...

Meera-->Gr8..do buy it soon and try this out..you will love it!Tks for the info!

Shilpa--> Kids have it along with small yellow banana and sugar too.

Indian Food Rocks said...

Purnima! Where have you been hiding this blog?! Every time I clicked through to your profile, it said " Not Available" and you never let on that you have your own blog! [sniff!] Looks like everyone else knew but me! And you have detailed posts on puttu!

I am a fan of puttu even though I have never eaten it! I have to first buy a puttu maker. Inji has shown how to make it using a coconut shell but I don't buy whole coconuts and use frozen instead so that won't really work for me.

Anyway, late but hearty welcome to the food blogging world!

geetha said...

Hi purnima, I recently started visiting your blog. Its very nice.

Puttu kadala is our favourite breakfast item too....

You can make this puttu using rawa instead of rice. Roast the rawa and moisten it the way its done here.

Purnima said...

Manisha --> Welcome to my space
!! I wasn't aware my blog is unavailable to you!I left comments thru my blogger id though!Be my guest ....have puttu kadala with me!!!
Hey I too chkd out various Mallu bloggers yummy puttu made in coconut shell,variety like mince mutton filling, ragi puttu etc..zapped!

Geetha--> Thats truly a new way..semolina is mostly substitued for rice powder! Have a great 2008,tks for visiting!

Sagari said...

thats a yummy recipe ramya have to try once lookss deleciousss

Swati said...

I am so thrilled seeing this post of yours..I love Puttu but never knew how to go about it..I will look out for the Puttu vessel and try this out asap.
Thanks so much for this recipe n wishing you a very happy new year :)

Pravs said...

My fav puttu kadala curry :) Wishing you and your family, the best for the coming new year.

Meera said...

Purnima:
Happy New Year, friend, to you and your family.

KonkaniBlogger said...

Hey Purnima, I love this puttu combo..I had a very good Keralite friend and have tasted this at her place. Happy new year to you and ur family :)...

Purnima said...

Sagari-->Tks..new name for me??? :D

Sugarcraft(Swati)--> Tku..Wish you a very sugary 2008!

Pravs-->Tks for your good wishes! Wish your family too a lovely 2008!

Meera--> HNY to you as well!! :D

Maya--> Try preparing this someday..vaggi vaggi jhatta..mushteney naarlu ani tandla mixture ghaalyeta..Happy 2008 !! :D

Seena said...

Purnima,
Happy New year!
thanks for visiting my blog, and for wishing me..
I like your blog, try to post more authentic recipes, would love to see them..
and of course this is our favorite..:)

Raks said...

Puttu kadalai,I hav heard before but seeing first time in your blog!
Lovely combination!

MR said...

lovely..
puttu and kadala curry!!!
I am drooling !!!

Meera said...

Hey, I tried and tasted and blogged about your recipe of puttu kadala. Thanks so much for sharing. Since I tried it for the very first time, I was little scared. but your instructions & recipe worked really well. Thanks so much.

Purnima said...

Meera,thankyou! Really sweet of you to say so..but you are truly skilled in variety cooking so kindly take the credit as it came well! Thanks again for trying out!

Purnima said...
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