Puttu and Kadala Curry

Puttu-kadala! Slurp! A healthy and yummy delicacy. Puttu can be made with ragi, wheat, corn or rice grains. And kadala curry is made with the black chickpeas. Though making puttu may seem tough, the aroma of steaming soft puttu is a great recompense.

Puttu is made using a cylindrical mold called "puttu kodam". Now i will let you into the trick of making soft puttu. Its basically all about mixing the right amount of water with the puttu powder.

Puttu

• Rice flour : 2 cups
• Grated coconut : 1 cup
• Water : about half cup
• Salt

Method

• Mix the rice flour and salt well in a large bowl.
• Spray water little by little, and keep mixing it in gently with your fingers. 
• The entire batch of flour has to be damp enough. 
• Cover and keep aside for 10 minutes.
• Fill about half your pressure cooker with water, cover and bring to a boil. 
• Do not put the weight.

• To fill the puttu mold, place the disc at the end of the mold. 
• Add one teaspoon of coconut first, followed by 3 to 4 tea spoons of rice flour, then again a tea spoon of coconut. 
• Keep layering thus until the mold is almost filled. 
• Close the lid.
• After steam has build up inside the cooker, place the puttu mold on the nozzle of the cooker, and steam for 3 to 4 minutes.
• Take the mold in a hand and using a skewer push the cooked dish out of the mold through the bottom end.
• If you are lucky, it will come out in perfect cylindrical shape. 

Kadala

• Black ChickPeas (Kadala) : 1 c
• Sliced Onion : 1
• Sliced Green Chillies : 2
• Sliced Tomato : 1/2
• Ginger-Garlic Paste : 1 T
• Curry Leaves : a few
• Grated coconut : 1 T
• Chopped Coriander Leaves : 1 T
• Red Chilly Powder : 1/2 t
• Coriander powder : 1 and 1/2 t
• Turmeric powder : 1/4 t
• Mustard Seeds : 1/2 t

Method

• Soak the chickpeas overnight, or atleast for 5 hours. Pressure cook until well done.
• Heat little oil in a pan and add grated coconut into it. 
• Fry till light brown and remove it from the pan and clean it well.
• Keep aside to cool. 
• When it is cooled, grind it along with 2 tsp of cooked chickpeas and coriander leaves. 
• Again add oil into the same pan and add mustard seeds into it. 
• When they pop, add the curry leaves and the rest of onion and ginger-garlic paste.
•  Saute till the onion turn brown. Add all the masalas and tomato into it. 
• Saute well. Add cooked chickpeas along with the water into the pan. 
• Mix well and allow it to boil for 5min. 
• Just before switching off add ground mixture into the curry. 
• Stir well and simmer it for 2 more min. 
• Hot kadala curry is ready to be served.
• Yummm!