Erachi Puttu - Chicken stuffed Steamed Rice Cakes

As any typical south Indian, I am a constant lover of all kinds of puttu which is nothing but steamed rice flour cake in the shape of cylinder or domes these days. I enjoy puttu with lentils for breakfast and with meat curry for dinner. Yes, I have priorities. This puttu recipe is one of my favorite and if you haven't eaten this before, please do as it is a blast of yumminess every mouth.

I have used shredded chicken in my recipe here but if you have boneless meat (chicken, mutton, lamb, beef.. you name it), you are more welcome to make use of it. Personally, the shredded meat gets mixed with the puttu very well when we eat and we get to taste the meaty stuff on equal portions whereas if it was in pieces, there is no promise of meat in every mouth. Yes, sounds kind of blaaahh but that is the only main reason why I have used shredded ones instead of pieces. So, you can choose whatever works best for you.

Ingredients:

For Chicken filling:

1. Chicken - 1 cup (shredded)

2. Onion - 1

3. Tomato - 2

4. Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

5. Turmeric Powder - a pinch

5. Coriander Powder - 1 tsp

6. Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp

7. Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp

8. Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

9. Oil - 2 tbsp

For Rice Puttu:

1. Rice Flour - 2 cups

2. Salt - 1/4 tsp

3. Coconut - 1/2 cup

3. Water - as much needed to make the flour in a crumbled state.

Instructions:

For Chicken Filling:

1. At first take a pan, pour in oil and start by sauteing the onions, and add some salt. When they turn translucent, add in the tomatoes and garlic ginger paste.

2. Cook it for a while and add in the spices like turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder and garam masala.

3. Let it cook for another few more minutes and Now is the right time to add in the shredded chicken.

4. If they turn very dry, please add in some water as we are expecting a moist filling as a result but not runny.

For Chicken/ meat / erachi puttu:

1. Take a bowl and put the rice flour in it. Pour in some water gradually and knead the flour in by making use of your hands. We are not looking for a dough consistency or batter consistency, so please be careful while pouring in the water as the flour should just get into a crumbled texture but moist enough to hold itself together when you take a handful as in the picture below.

2. Take the puttu mould now, I happened to have small cup shaped one but you can very well use the big cylindrical one if you have and arrange accordingly.

3. Put a tbsp of coconut in the mould, followed by the rice puttu flour and then add the chicken filling. Again repeat the same process with some coconut and rice puttu flour.

4. Place the mould on the top of the pressure cooker and steam it for 5 minutes.

5. Unmould the puttu by inverting it on a plate and serve it hot.

6. I recommend using your hands to enjoy this dish as mixing in the filling and the puttu brings out the delicacy of this dish.

This is one kind of dish you dont have to serve with side dish and tastes really good all by itself.

Hope you enjoy making this and do let me know how it turns out.