Putu Mayam is a popular Indian street food resembling noodles, made from rice flour and coconut milk. Traditionally served with meat and curry, it is now commonly eaten as a snack with sugar and coconut. Variations of the dish can be found in Malaysia.
Putu Mayam is a popular Indian street food originating from the state of Tamil. Its appearance is similar to noodles, very similar to vermicelli noodles used for Chinese dishes. It should be served cold, along with a small amount of sweetener, making it a good breakfast or snack during hot days. In English, Putu Mayam is known as ‘hoppers’.
In Malay languages, the word putu is translated as “rice cake”, while mayam may have been derived from the word “mayang”, which is translated as “grated coconut”. Serving food in the form of noodles may not have been an original Indian concept and may have come from Chinese influences as Asian countries started trading with each other. Traditionally, the dish was served as a main course, accompanied by viandi such as meat and curry. Eating the hoppers as a snack was an idea of the kids who added some sugar to the noodles.
The main ingredient for Putu Mayam noodles is rice flour formed into dough by mixing it with some coconut milk or just water. In the state of Kerala, India, cooks favor “idiyappam” flour, which comes from unpolished rice, giving the flour a browner color. The pasta is then passed through a sieve which creates strings of pasta. The sieve was traditionally a rattan basket, the holes of which produce the noodles. The strings would then be placed horizontally on stacks of baskets and undergo a few minutes of steaming.
Steaming the noodles in the basket would allow the “woody” aroma to be absorbed into the strings for more flavor and fragrance. A pandan leaf can be added to the water. After the noodles have been cooked and cooled for a few minutes, shredded or dried coconut can be added as a topping to give the dish more texture. To sweeten the Putu Mayam, sugar blocks made from sugar cane or coconut will be added alongside the noodles. A more traditional way of serving the dish would be to place it on a banana leaf for ease of consumption without the need for a spoon and fork.
The popularity of Putu Mayam has led to its variations in different countries. In Malaysia, the dish is called ‘Putu Piring’, the latter word meaning ‘small dish’ as Malaysian putu is cooked on small plates rather than baskets. Putu is not shaped like noodles, but instead is shaped like a flat round cake, with sugar sitting inside the cake. The Penang region of Malaysia has another version that uses sweetened mustard seeds as an accompaniment for rice cakes.
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