Breakfast · Kerala
Puttu & Kadala Curry
Steamed rice-flour cylinders layered with coconut, plus black chickpeas in roasted-coconut masala.
Puttu is Kerala's other iconic breakfast: rice flour moistened to a breadcrumb crumble, layered with grated coconut and steamed into soft cylinders that drink up whatever curry sits beside them. That curry, ideally, is kadala — black chickpeas simmered in a dark, roasted-coconut masala. Together they are the breakfast half of South Florida quietly craves on weekend mornings.
🔥 Why it's trending: One of the five iconic Kerala breakfasts named again and again in 2026's global Kerala-food coverage.
Method
- Cook the chickpeas: drain the soaked kadala, pressure cook with fresh water and salt for 25–30 minutes (8–10 whistles) until soft but holding their shape. Reserve the cooking liquid.
- Roast the masala: in 1 tbsp coconut oil, fry the grated coconut with 2 shallots and the fennel until deep golden brown — take it further than feels safe, without burning. Cool, then grind with the coriander, chili, turmeric and garam masala powders and a splash of water to a smooth paste.
- Build the curry: heat 1 tbsp coconut oil, sauté the onion until golden, add ginger-garlic paste and tomato and cook until the oil glistens. Add the ground masala and the cooked chickpeas with their liquid. Simmer 10 minutes until the gravy thickens and darkens. Adjust salt.
- Temper: in the remaining coconut oil, crackle mustard seeds, then fry the sliced shallots, curry leaves and dried red chilies until crisp and pour over the curry. Cover and rest.
- Make the puttu: whisk salt into the puttu podi, then sprinkle warm water a little at a time, mixing with your fingers until the flour feels like damp breadcrumbs and a squeezed handful holds together, then crumbles. Rest 10 minutes. Fill the puttu mould in layers — coconut, flour, coconut, flour, coconut on top. Steam 5–7 minutes until steam escapes strongly from the lid. Push out gently onto a plate.
- Serve the puttu whole with kadala curry ladled around it, plus banana and a pinch of sugar on the side for the traditional sweet-bite contrast.
Finding ingredients in South Florida
- Puttu podi (Nirapara, Double Horse, Eastern) and puttu makers — both the traditional kutti and the chiratta (coconut-shell) style — are stocked at Patel Brothers and Indian grocers across the tri-county area, and widely online.
- Black chickpeas sit with the dals in Indian stores; canned black chickpeas are rare in US supermarkets, so the dried bag is the reliable route.
- Frozen grated coconut is indistinguishable from fresh in this recipe once steamed or roasted.
Cook's notes
- The water test makes or breaks puttu: too dry and it powders apart, too wet and it turns gummy. Add water by the tablespoon and trust the squeeze test.
- No puttu mould? Pack the flour-coconut layers into a greased steel tumbler or small ramekin, cover with foil, and steam in a basket for 10 minutes.
- Kadala curry is even better on day two — make it the night before and breakfast cooks itself.
