Do you remember how at the end of yesterday’s post, I said there was more? Well here is part-two of our amazing backwater experience!
As I mentioned previously, palm trees are essential to the villagers way of life. Not only do they use the palm tree for their homes, furniture, and rope, they also use it in their kitchen. The palm leaves are used as fuel for the stove, the coconut shells are used as cooking supplies, and the coconut meat is used in most of their dishes.
After making our ropes out of coconut fiber, we were brought to the kitchen of another house to cook part of our lunch. We made a traditional Kerala meal with coconut called “puttu”.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
- Rice flour
- A pinch of salt
- Warm water
- Grated coconut
Process:
1. In a bowl, mix rice flour, salt and warm water.
2. Put one handful of the grated coconut into a puttu maker.
3. Add three handfuls of the rice flour mixture on top of the coconut layer.
4. Alternate one handful of the grated coconut and three handfuls of the rice flour mixture until the puttu maker is full.
5. Steam the layers in the puttu maker for about two minutes.
6. Take the puttu maker off of the stove and use a thin bamboo stick to push the puttu out nicely onto a serving plate. You can see the layers of coconut and rice.
To go with our puttu, we learned how to deep fry some papadums .
How to eat puttu for lunch:
*Never use cutlery, always use your hands and a banana leaf as a plate.
1. Break off a section of the puttu and smush it on your banana leaf plate.
2. Take some vegetable curry and mix it with the puttu.
3. When you have mixed it all together, use your hands to eat it. Don’t forget to eat the papadums too!
How to eat puttu for dessert:
*Use your hands only.
1. Break off a section of the puttu and smush it on your banana leaf plate.
2. Take half of a sweet banana and mix it in with the puttu.
3. Use your hands to eat.
I had a great time cooking and eating. The puttu and papadums were delicious and it was fun using banana leaves as plates and eating with our hands!
As we made our way back to shore, we cooled off after a fabulous day by splashing our feet in the water. Our backwater tour was the best girls day out ever!
Comments
7 responses to “Indian Gondola Ride and Island- Part Two”
This is natural food eating at its best! You and your family will never want to go to a Western fast food place again! Your poor dad again missing out on such an adventure! But you will have lots to tell him and when you get back to Canada, perhaps you can make some puttu ( either lunch or desert) for him. How long was the ride in the boat/gondola? Was it very hot? How did you learn about this particular tour? What a good thing that you always have your hats!
Hi!
When we got back to my dad, we told him everything on our tour and showed him all of our photos. Too bad that we forgot to bring some of the puttu back for him… Good idea, we can make it for him!!!!
Hi, Zoe, since it is my catching up day, I read both your posts today, and enjoyed tagging along very much. It’s amazing how the people live and use everything from the palm tree. I think the puttu maker is really neat. The photos are, as always, great and help to understand the procedures of cooking and eating the special dishes. I can just see that we have to have a whole month (or two) of feasts of the world. Thanks for a great and very different report. Lots of hugs.
Hi!
I think that it is a great idea to have a month of feasts from around the world. Does that mean parties every night for two months? That sounds good to me! 🙂
Hi Zoe,
That was certainly a wonderful lunch you ladies had! Did you get a recipe for the vegetable curry? What did the coconut and the flour and rice flour taste like? Does it taste like any type of pastry we have in Canada? I’m glad that you had such a great day! Love, Baba
Hi!
Sadly, we did not get the recipe for vegetable curry. The coconut and the rice flour tasted like rice. It was delicious! 🙂
[…] friends, Iniyial, came early and taught the girls how to make puttu. We experienced this traditional dish of steamed rice flour and ground coconut while in Kerala the South of India. Thanks to […]