Description

Kerala kitchens draw a line most other kitchens do not, between raw rice flour and roasted. Eastern mill this one roasted, which is the form the steamed dishes of that coast are built on.

Puttu, the rice and coconut cylinder steamed in a bamboo or metal tube, is the dish it exists for, and the same flour goes into kozhukattai shells and idiyappam. Roasting changes how the flour takes up water, which is why the two are not interchangeable however similar they look in the bag.

Roasted or raw rice flour, does it matter? For puttu and idiyappam it matters a great deal. Roasted flour absorbs hot water evenly and steams into a soft crumb; raw flour goes sticky and dense. For a batter or a thickener either will do.

How do I get puttu to come out soft? By the water, not the steaming. Sprinkle warm salted water in a little at a time and rub it through until the flour holds its shape when squeezed and still crumbles when pressed. Too wet and it steams into a solid lump.

For the plain raw version, TRS rice flour in 1.5 kilos is the flour to buy, and Kerala flours at Panjab Supermarket carries the idiyappam and appam mixes. Vegetarian. Store it in a cool, dry place in a sealed container, because flour takes up damp and picks up the smell of whatever sits beside it. Order online at Panjab Supermarket for same-day delivery across Nieuwegein, Utrecht, Leidsche Rijn, Vleuten, Maarssen, Zeist, Bunnik, IJsselstein, Vianen, and Culemborg. Free delivery on orders over 49 euros.