kadalinakkare ponore kaana ponninu ponore…..
poyi varumbol enthu kondu varum kai niraye…. The timeless melody from the movie Chemmeen, pied pipers  you into God’s Own country.

The land & its people are beautiful.  Seeing a little or a teen girl in the morning in the temples, with the long skirt, the puff sleeved blouse, black plaited hair nourished by the coconut oil & the fishful diet, the black  rolling eyes highlighted by the thick kajal ( kudos to kerala for sticking so vehemently to Kajal even today)  the innocent smile with the fresh  little chandan tilak on the forehead can refreshingly lift your spirits up.

Keraiites are fond of being tidy & all dining places serve warm light pink drinking water made with pathimugm. Despite the culture of neatness & hygiene ingrained in their blood, it is an irony that no Kerala city finds a place in the Government of India’s cleanest cities list. It is like Mahatma not being a Nobel Laurette. The list loses sanctity.

As the revolt gets hot, the revolutionaries start moving randomly within. Soon more of their cult flock together, jumping about excitedly & rubbing shoulders with each other, plotting the great escape. They must make their way through the Great Steel wall first. The excitement soon thresholds and one behind the other they rise in thin streams crossing the great wall through the perforations that they  find in the wall. The going gets tougher as they encounter a fully packed column of millions of tiny specks of rice flour mixed with grated coconut. They don’t lose steam & finally emerge  triumphantly on the top with a heady fragrance. Freedom at last. Kuzha puttu (KP) is ready.

Taking a foot long of KP out of the tube without a break is another war that many house wives even today wage.

KP is an ancient  mastery of science of heat transfer efficiency. When large amounts of fine particulate matter are to be steamed, it is better to pack it in a tower rather than spread it over a tray to make use of the gravity defying rise of the light weight  steam. When packed in a tower, heating a little water is sufficient resulting in lower energy consumption. That defines the shape of the kettle & kuzha (tube).

The high particulate texture of KP makes ingestion difficult, necessitating the kadalai curry or banana.

KP is a main course breakfast. However, when you add  sugar along with the flour & then steam, the sugar embraces the flour in an inseparable love making  an unique  time & effort saving dessert cum part main course during dinner ( Courtesy : Mahima Ganesh).

I prefer KP only with the stew (or ishtoo  as it is pronounced locally ) – a spicy watery broth made out of coconut milk, green chillies, soft, cooked, diced potatoes &  loaded with lots of black pepper. It is good enough to show dry cough the way out.

IN TN do not miss the hot ghee puttu available well past midnight at many locations on pushcarts (wonder who their clientele at that odd hour are). However, if you do not wish to end up red eyed to taste it, drop by at Ganesh’s house in Kochin.