Pittu (පිට්ටු in Sinhala, piṭṭu in Tamil) is a steamed log of roasted rice flour and freshly grated coconut. The damp, crumbly mixture is packed loosely into a tall, narrow steaming tube and cooked over boiling water, then pushed out as a soft cylinder that breaks apart at a touch. It is a breakfast and dinner food in both Sinhala and Tamil homes, and the same dish is known as puttu in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Unlike the Kerala version, in which flour and coconut are usually laid in alternate layers, Sri Lankan cooks generally mix the coconut into the flour before steaming. Rice flour is the most common base, but wheat flour, or a mixture of the two, is also widely used, as is finger millet (kurakkan) flour.
How to make Sri Lankan pittu
- Serves 4
- Prep: 15 minutes
- Cook: 20 minutes, in batches
- Difficulty: Easy
For the pittu
- 300 g roasted white or red rice flour (about 2 cups)
- 150 g freshly grated coconut (about 1 1/2 cups), plus a little extra for the mould
- 1 tsp salt
- About 200 ml warm water, sprinkled in gradually
To serve
- 250 ml thick coconut milk
- 1 pinch salt
Method
- Toast the flour if needed. If your rice flour is not labelled as roasted, dry-roast it in a heavy pan over a low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly, until it smells toasty and is barely coloured. Let it cool.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a wide bowl, combine the flour, grated coconut and salt, rubbing them together with your fingertips.
- Sprinkle in the water. Scatter a little of the warm water over the flour and work it in with your fingers in a circular, raking motion. Keep adding water a spoonful at a time, turning the bowl as you go.
- Check the texture. Stop when the mixture looks like coarse, damp breadcrumbs and holds together when squeezed in your fist but breaks up again when you open your hand. It must not become a dough.
- Heat the steamer. Bring water to a rolling boil in the pittu pot, or in a pan that the steaming tube fits snugly on top of.
- Fill the mould. Put the perforated disc in the tube and add a spoonful of plain grated coconut. Spoon in the pittu mixture loosely, without pressing it down, until the tube is almost full, then top with a little more coconut.
- Steam. Set the tube on the pot over a high heat. When steam starts to rise through the top, cover and steam for 5 to 8 minutes more, until steam flows steadily from the lid and the mixture looks set.
- Unmould and repeat. Push the pittu out onto a plate with the handle of a wooden spoon and repeat with the remaining mixture.
- Warm the coconut milk. Heat the coconut milk with the salt over a low heat, stirring, until just warm; do not let it boil. Serve it in a jug to pour over the pittu.
What equipment do you need?
A pittu mould is a tall, narrow tube, traditionally a length of bamboo and today usually aluminium or steel, with a perforated disc at the bottom and a lid with holes on top. It sits on a small pot of boiling water, so the steam passes up through the mixture. If you do not have one, spread the mixture loosely in a steamer basket lined with muslin and steam it for about 10 minutes; you lose the cylinder shape, but the taste is the same.
What do you eat with pittu?
Pittu is plain on purpose; the sides give it flavour. The most usual partners are warm, lightly salted coconut milk poured over the top and a sharp lunu miris. For a fuller meal, add a spicy fish curry, chicken curry or dhal curry, with pol sambol or katta sambol on the side. For a sweet version, pittu is eaten with coconut milk and a little kithul treacle or jaggery.
Which flours can you use?
- Rice flour. White rice flour gives a soft, pale pittu; red rice flour gives a nuttier, slightly firmer one. Use flour sold as roasted, or toast it yourself.
- Wheat flour. Many Sri Lankan households use plain wheat flour, alone or half and half with rice flour. It must be cooked first, by dry-roasting or steaming until it forms loose clumps, and then cooled and sifted.
- Kurakkan flour. Finger millet flour makes a dark brown pittu with an earthy taste, and is often mixed with rice flour.
Why does my pittu turn out hard or crumbly?
Almost always the water. Too much makes lumps that steam into a dense, heavy log; too little leaves raw, powdery patches that fall apart. Add water slowly and test the squeeze often. Packing the tube too tightly also gives a hard result, because the steam cannot pass through, so spoon the mixture in loosely.
How is pittu different from puttu and other rice dishes?
Pittu and the South Indian puttu are the same idea, a steamed rice-and-coconut cylinder. The Sri Lankan version usually has the coconut mixed through and no cumin, and is served with coconut milk and sambols rather than the chickpea curry or banana common in Kerala. It is also quite different from string hoppers, which are made from a pressed dough, and hoppers, which are cooked from a fermented batter.
Can you make pittu ahead?
Pittu is at its best straight from the mould. You can mix the crumbs an hour or two ahead and keep them covered, then steam just before serving. Leftover pittu keeps covered in the fridge for a day; re-steam it for a few minutes to soften it.
