Quinoa Puttu – Guest post for 3 Curious monkeys

Yes this is a guest post and you will be seeing more of these guest post from me for 3 curious monkeys. So what’s this 3 curious monkeys? It’s a company run by two great women Shweta Chopra and Shuchi Mehta. They have multicultural books and great apps for kids. It’s true that 3 Curious Monkeys helps kids discover and appreciate our nation India in a contemporary and engaging manner. I Love their apps. The interesting thing is Shweta and Shuchi got to know my blog via Euphoric delight FB group and contacted me for guest posts. (Its going to be a series) I was really elated and humbled and I am really happy to do these guest posts for them.

Quinoa is small grain loaded with protein and it’s a rich source of B vitamins, and also dietary minerals and has a modest amount of calcium. It is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. This grain is perfect for kids as they get sufficient vitamins and minerals along with protein. But one thing that I need to agree is quinoa’s taste is acquired. I started including them along with rice then in soups and stews. Quinoa flour is a great ingredient that can be added along with wheat flour for making rotis and also you can try this flour for baking.

Puttu is a traditional breakfast recipe in Kerala. It is served along with banana and it forms a filling breakfast for everyone. The traditional puttu is prepared with the Kerala Red rice flour but you try it with ragi or wheat flour also. For this puttu recipe I am going to use quinoa flour. This became a huge hit in our household and I realized this is the easies and best way to introduce quinoa for kids. It is one of the easiest recipes and it can be done in a jiffy.

Note: It is not mandatory to have the puttu steamer. You can steam in your convenient way. These steamers are readily available in all Indian stores.

Ingredients:

• Quinoa flour – 1 cup
• Water – ½ cup
• Salt – ½ tsp
• Grated/Shredded coconut – ½ to ¾ cup
• Sugar – as per taste for serving

Steps:

• Dry roast the quinoa flour for couple of minutes or until they turn light brown. (Don’t roast for more than 3 minutes)
• Let the flour cool down and add the salt and mix well.

• Now slowly start adding the water and mix them well till you get the corn meal consistency.
• Keep the shredded coconut ready.

Steaming using Puttu Maker:

Puttu maker has two parts the bottom pot where you steam the water and the top part usually cylindrical vessel where you add the flour mix layered with coconut.

• Start steaming the water in the bottom part.
• Meanwhile mix the flour and keep it ready.
• Once the steam starts to come out, add small amount of coconut as the first layer and fill ¼ of the cylinder with the quinoa flour and then again with coconut and then with quinoa flour. Close it and place it on top of the steaming pot.
• Let it steam for 4 minutes and that’s it.

Yummy puttu is ready. Open the cylindrical part and push the puttu out.

Steaming in regular way:

• You can steam it the double boiler method that we use for melting chocolates.
• Boil the water in a pot and place another vessel with this flour and cover it with a plate and steam it for 5 minutes.
• In this case mix the flour and coconut together.

You can also use Idly cooker to steam these.

Now mix sugar according to your taste and serve it along with banana. I usually add 2 to 3 tsps of cane sugar.

Cross posted here.