← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean

Ingredients

• 200 g fine rice flour (roasted, if you can find it)
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 300 ml boiling water, more as needed
• 150 g freshly grated coconut
• 1 pinch Salt
• 100 g gula melaka or brown sugar, grated

Method

1. If your rice flour is not pre-roasted, toast it in a dry pan over low heat for 5 min, stirring, until it smells nutty but has not coloured. Cool slightly.
2. Mix the flour with the salt and oil. Pour in the boiling water gradually, stirring with a spoon, then knead into a soft, smooth, non-sticky dough while still warm.
3. Fill an oiled string hopper or murukku press with dough. Press it out in circles onto oiled steamer plates or small squares of banana leaf, making thin, lacy nests.
4. Steam over high heat for 8–10 min until the strands look glossy and cooked.
5. Mix the coconut with a pinch of salt. Serve the putu mayam warm, scattered with coconut and sugar, or with curry for a savoury meal.

Tips

• The dough must be warm and soft to press; cover it with a damp cloth while you work.
• Malaysian Indian vendors sell it from motorbikes in the morning; Sri Lankans call it idiyappam and eat it with curry.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

What To Cook Today Seasaltwithfood