That Keralites love enjoying hot and steaming puttu for breakfast is no big secret. In fact, the evergreen combination of puttu and kadala (Bengal gram) curry has been hailed as one of the most nutritious breakfast combinations. Though Keralites take pride in their favourite puttu, many historians suggest that the dish may have been cooked for the first time in Tamil Nadu. Besides Kerala, puttu is cooked in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and the Tamil regions in Sri Lanka as well.
A dish, called sungapitha, which looks and tastes similar to puttu is popular in Assam. Puttu was first mentioned in the book titled Thirupugazhu, written in the 15th century, by the renowned Tamil poet Arunagirinathan. Many historians have observed that the Malayalam language had developed in the 8th century. However, there is no information about puttu in any of the early books or inscriptions in Malayalam. It is also assumed that Kerala and Tamil Nadu didn't have separate culinary practices during that age. So, some say that Keralites can actually claim the ownership of the delicious puttu.
There is an interesting snippet about puttu in Thiruvilayadal Puranam written by Param Jyotthi Munivaran in the 16th century. The Thiruvilayadal Puranam narrates the story of Sivaperumal of the famous temple in Madurai. Once, Lord Ganesha, in disguise, approached an old lady who was selling puttu on the way side and offered to help her. However, the old lady replied that she didn’t have money to pay him any remuneration. Lord Ganesh then told the lady that he would accept the crumbled bits of puttu as his remuneration. The legend says that the entire puttu made by the old lady, that day, was crumbled. Even today, crumbled puttu is presented as an offering for the idol of Lord Ganesha in Madurai.
Malayalis share a special nostalgic affinity to the dish called 'kuthira biryani' which was eternalized by the celebrated writer S K Pottakad in his iconic novel, Oru Deshathinte Katha. The writer narrates the dish as a delicious mixture of puttu, kadala curry and crispy pappad which was served at the quaint tea shop near the tile factory at Puthiyara, Kozhikode.
It must be interesting to know that a world record too has been created for the longest puttu ever made. This incredible fete was accomplished by the students of the Lakkidy Oriental School of Management in 2006. The students created history by cooking a 10-foot long puttu using 26 kilo grams of rice flour and 20 coconuts. It took half an hour for them to cook the puttu, in steam, perfectly.
