Photo: Medhi jyoti · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Kerala · Breakfast

Olan with Puttu

Traditional 79. Olan with Puttu recipe

🧺 Ingredients

• 400g ash gourd (kumbalanga / white pumpkin), peeled, seeded, cut into 3cm cubes
• 100g black-eyed peas (vanpayar), soaked overnight and cooked until soft (or 200g canned)
• 3 green chillies, slit lengthwise
• 200ml medium-thick coconut milk
• 100ml thick coconut milk
• 2 sprigs fresh curry leaves
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200g white rice puttu flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 50-60ml warm water
• 100g fresh grated coconut (for layering)

👩‍🍳 How to make Olan with Puttu

1. Make puttu flour (5 mins): Combine white rice puttu flour and salt. Sprinkle warm water gradually, rubbing between fingertips, until the flour is moist and crumbly — holds shape when pressed, breaks apart when poked. Cover and rest 10 mins.
2. Steam puttu (10 mins, high steam): Fill puttu mould alternating: 2 tbsp coconut → 3 tbsp moistened flour → repeat 3 times, ending with coconut. Attach to steaming base and steam 8-10 mins until steam escapes from holes. Push out and cover with a cloth to keep warm.
3. Add black-eyed peas (3 mins, low heat): Add the pre-cooked (and drained) black-eyed peas to the pan. Stir gently — the delicate peas should not break. Add thick coconut milk; stir and simmer on low for 2 mins — do not boil after adding thick milk.
4. Finish Olan (1 min): Add curry leaves and drizzle coconut oil directly into the curry — do not stir again. The coconut oil floats as a fragrant layer. Remove from heat. Olan should be very mildly flavoured — almost sweet, with the only heat from the green chillies.
5. Serve: Place 1-2 puttu cylinders on a plate or in a bowl. Ladle olan alongside generously. The puttu is broken apart and dunked into the olan — the crumbly texture absorbs the delicate coconut milk beautifully.

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