Searching for videos on traditional Indian food, I found this one from the YouTube channel 'Village cooking - Kerala'. Click on the picture to see the video.
It has been decades since I last had Puttu & kadala and wanted to revisit it. I remembered having seen somewhere in Puducherry a board announcing its availability in the mornings. After having a fill of its almost forgotten aroma and taste I must say it was not at all disappointing. It's available in the evenings at Ende Naadu (Tr. from Malayalam: My country) which is an old house renovated and converted into a restaurant but clean and quiet - located half a kilometer down from the traffic signal, at No. 36, Sardar Vallabhai Patel Salai, Puducherry. There is some space on the pavement where bicycles can be parked. The nutritious food with a cup of very good coffee cost just Rs. 168/-
Chef Regi Mathew, Co-Owner and Culinary Director of Kappa Chakka Kandhari, a popular Kerala cuisine restaurant in Chennai and Bangalore says, “Puttu can be considered fast food of the 16th century – quick to make, satiating and hyperlocal. Not just in Kerala where it became the choice for the first meal of the day, but across Southeast Asia where it is known as Putu piring, putu bamboo, putu mayam, putu ayu, khanom krok and so on.”
Chef Chalapathi Rao, Chef-Owner, Simply South lays the ground for how kadala kari (curry) became a classic pairing with puttu. The dish is a velvety, warm curry made with desi channa and perfect spice balance. This hardy legume reached Kerala’s then primarily vegetarian shores in the early half of the 10th century, and was an excellent protein choice. Chef Thampan says, “ Pairing both these dishes created a delicious, protein-packed breakfast that was affordable and nourishing.”
Chef Thampan says, "Kadala Kari, gets its warm, sweet, velvety notes from the use of roasted coconut and a blend of warm spices – all local to the land of Kerala.”
The one thing everyone seems to agree on is what makes a good puttu. “A well-done puttu is always moist, even when it is cold,” says Chef Mathew. “The key to making moist, delicious puttu is not only getting the 80:20 ratio of rice powder and coconut right, but also the amount of water/coconut milk added to it. And there is where the charm of puttu remains as a soft puttu with sweet undernotes is all it takes to fall in love with this classic breakfast,” he adds.
Excerpts from The History of Puttu and Kadala Kari