Puttu/Steam Cake

It must sound really strange if I tell u that during my mother's childhood at my grand mother's place; almost everyday for breakfast they used to have only Puttu. Only on certain special days they prepared anything else. In memory of my grand mother who recently passed away, here it is the receipe for puttu. At my grand mother's house they used to make puttu not only with rice flour but other variety puttu, like with wheat flour, semolina, jack fruit, red meat and flour etc. I ma showing you the very common rice flour puttu.

Ingredients:

1. Rice flour- 1/2 cup
2. Grated coconut- 2 tbp
3. Salt-to taste
4. Water-  1 little

Method:

1. First put salt in the flour and mix with water. You are supposed to simply sprinkle the flour with water while continously mixing it with hands. You cannot mix it with a spoon. You need just enough water to slightly wet the flour.
2. Into the puttu maker, first put one spoon of grated coconut, then fill the cylinder with the flour and on top again coconut. If you want to , can add more coocnut once you fill the flour half way through and close it with the lid provided.
3. Put the cylinder on the pressure cooker steam or if you have seperate puttu maker pot on a low to medium flame for 10-12mints untilt he smell of cooked puttu starts oozing out from the pot.
4. Take out the puttu and serve hot either with chana masala or banana with some sugar.

PS: There are numerous variety of dish that complements puttu. My dad loved to have it with pappad or green gram ( cherupayar thoran) My other has it with even jam and butter. Sounds strnage I know. You can even have puttu with fish curry or chicken. My cousin Sarah chechi has it with milk and sugar which is also great. Also you can have it with palm honey ( panam paani) a honey sort of liquid you extract from the palm tree.