Puttu with kadala curry ~ Kerala Special

Puttu and kadala is an evergreen breakfast combination of Keralites. Steaming puttu and appam served with kadala curry is the popular breakfast particularly in small roadside tea stalls 'Chayakada') of Kerala. In most Kerala homes, when unexpected guests come for breakfast, puttu is the natural choice, since puttu powder will always be in stock and can be made instantly. Then the side dish may vary since black channa needs pre-soaking. Whole moong comes to the rescue. Or some simple sides like banana,sugar,roasted papad (papadam) is enough to relish the hot puttu.

But puttu was not part of the menu in my home,during my chidhood days, may be because it did not feature in the Kerala Iyer menu. We get to taste puttu from our neighbor V aunty. We had developed an instant liking to puttu. Later Amma got a puttu maker and started making it for us. But my parents never had a liking for this. Amma made it for me and my sister.Post marriage, I found my husband's love for puttu and it not making frequent appearance in the
kitchen and the story is not different from mine. My MIL had a puttu maker to be used on the cooker in place of the cooker weight. Since marriage, puttu and kadalai combo makes it to our breakfast table , almost on all Sundays.

Puttu is made is using coarsely grounded rice. Now a days, you get various types of puttu powder based on rice, corn, raagi and wheat. I normally make rice and wheat and raagi and corn make occassional appearance. My mom used to make the puttu powder at home. And there wasn't any other option too. But I never bothered to make it at home and its always store bought for me.

You need

Puttu powder - 2 cups

salt to taste

water - 1/2 cup

grated coconut - 1 cup

Mix salt in 1/2 cup of water. sprinkle handful of water on the rice powder. Mix well so it resembles bread crumbs. Again add water and crumble it well. The powder should be moist enough so that when held in your fist, it should hold the shape and not crumble. Take the puttu maker.Add a tablespoon grated coconut. Fill nearly half of it with the powder. Again add coconut and then fill the rest with rice powder and finish off with little coconut.So the order is coconut-rice powder-coconut till you fill the puttu maker. Full your cooker with 3 cups of water and close the lid. Place the puttu maker on top of the lid in place of weight/whistle. Steam cook for 10-12 minutes. Remove and gently push from the small opening behind using the skewer and log of steaming, delicious puttu comes out.

For kadala curry (Black channa masala)
Black chickpeas/channa/kadala - 2 cups

Coconut - 1/2 cup

Turmeric - a pinch

salt

For roasting
Onion - 1 medium

Coriander seeds - 1 tblspn

Red chillies - 3 nos

Cinnamon - 1 inch piece

Cloves - 4 nos

Oil - 2 tblspn

To Season

Oil

Mustard seeds

Curry leaves to garnish

Wash and soak the channa overnight or for 6 hours. Pressure cook the channa with little turmeric till soft. Roast coriander seeds, red chillies, cinnamon and cloves till you can smell them and the coriander seeds starts browning.Remove the roasted spices and saute sliced onion in the same kadai till light brown. When cool, grind the roasted ingredients, sauteed onion and coconut to a smooth paste. Add necessary water to grind. Boil the pressure cooked channa with salt. Stir in the ground mixture and bring to a boil. Season with mustard seeds and garnish
with curry leaves.
This curry goes well with dosa and appam too apart from puttu. You can add potato/cauliflower too to this curry. If you feel there is too much of coconut, you can reduce it in the curry and grind some cooked channa and add to the gravy to thicken. Alternatively you can use a combination of grated carrots,moong sprouts and little coconut as filler in puttu, in place of using only coconut

I am sending the bowl of kadala curry to JFI :Chickpea hosted by Sometime Foodies

and the seventh helping of My Legume Love Affair hosted by Srivalli, an event started by Susan.

And since I make this specially for my husband, this goes to the Just for You event hosted by Alka of Sindhirasoi