Friday, April 3, 2009

.: Putu lady :.


Rain or shine.

You know you can count on her for those delectable fares.

Couple of months ago was the first time I saw her. Instantaneously, I was fascinated with her warm and bubbly nature. Not much of a putu eater, I only bought it twice. On my third purchase, after a 2 weeks absence on my side, she smiled at me and said …


It’s been a long time since I last saw you. Were you ill?

Then it downed on me that I may have made her concerned on my whereabouts during my hiatus. The fact that she remembers me together with the worried expression she had on her face left an unpleasant feeling inside, thus I try to pay her courtesy calls every now and then.

On that day, I told her frankly that I hardly eat putu, hence I won’t be able to purchase it that often. She asked whether I can eat any other Indian fare. *she had to bring up a topic that I can discuss at wits end* My response, a definite yes. She threw me a smile, wherein the next subsequent days she kept some of her other Indian fares for me. *I didn’t know she was selling anything else besides putu*

Today, I bought some putu mayam after close to 1 month of not seeing her.

I'm giving you extra since you're my special customer. :)

She's seriously feeding me well, and I am more than obliged to entertain her with that. :) To this point, I never get the chance to ask her name.

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:: Addendum Apr. 5th 8.12am ::

Thank you Sister Serendipituouslife for bringing this up. :)

I've somehow rather missed out on mentioning what Putu is. Base on my knowledge, Putu itself means a kind of steamed cake/muffin or unleavened bread. Putu is made from rice flour, mixed with water or coconut milk. Depending on the variation; i.e. Putu Mayam [vermicelli-like], Putu Piring [small saucer], Putu Bambu [bamboo], the dough is steamed with or without the moulds. Screwpine leaves or juice are sometimes added in the water for steaming as an aromatic natural flavor enhancer. Normally, it is eaten with freshly grated coconut and jaggery [unrefined sugar; varying from golden brown to dark brown in color].
The jaggery are often substituted with gula melaka [coconut palm sugar], gula kabung/nau [palm sugar] or gur [date palm sugar]. With regards to the texture, Putu Mayam is lacey-like, Putu Piring has a soft almost cottony-like texture while the Putu Bambu is quite brittle.

There are other varieties of Putu i.e. Putu Tegar, Putu Ayu, Kueh Putu etc. but I'm only mentioning the common ones. In Malaysia, typically the Putu Piring and Putu Bambu have the jaggery stuffed inside the dough; often cooked/sold by Indians, Malays and Chinese. So far, I've only seen white or yellow colored versions of it, and I have never made it myself. Just the observer. :P

The picture above is the Putu Bambu, minus the sweet stuffing which is served at the sides. Hope this helps the readers to have a better understanding of what Putu is. :)

Note:: Putu Bambu can be savory or sweet. The sweet one is as described above, though if you exclude the sweet stuffing, it can be taken with curry. In Indonesia, the sweet version of the Putu Bambu is known as Kueh Putu.

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Once more, thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I'm still recovering from the nasty flu, and I really think that I should exclude the gross details. Things are becoming better, Alhamdulillah, with me not falling rock bottom.

Scuttles for her ghastly medication.
10.15pm Malaysian Time

9 comments:

Mina said...

Awww she is so cute...glad to hear your feeling better hun.

Yasemin said...

She's like a scond mother almost dear! You just don't see that here in the States Hajar. I wish I could just go there everyday and hand her some money without buying anything at all.

Oh I really am glad you are feeling better. It's so awful to have the flu in the spring when the weather is gorgeous! But, now inshallah you are immune to another case of it.

I love you so much dear one. Hope you have a fun and fabulous weekend!

Hajar Zamzam Ismail said...

Awww, such a sweet lady!

Anonymous said...

Asalaamualaikum Hajar,

Hope you are feeling well.
I was waiting till the end of your post to learn what a 'putu' is?!

From the looks of it, it seems like plain boiled rice. And if its south Indian, then it must be sticky glutinous rice. Am i right?

Asmi's Journal said...

Awww, she's so sweet! :) May Allah bless such kind people!

Hajar Alwi said...

Mina :: She is! I find it cuter when she speaks in Malay. ^^

Lisa :: The way she's feeding me, she's like a carbon-copy of my mum! :) Alhamdulillah, I can still see a lot of these scenes here. That's a delightful thought, though rather tricky to do. She doesn't accept random money, even if it's for the extras that she gives me! I'm trying to work my way around it. ^^

Unfortunately, I'm suffering from a rebound of it. :( Nevertheless, the weather has become better so Insha'Allah I'll recover entirely from it soon & be immune from it for the rest of the year! ^

Love you too! Send my regards to your little one & please do have a pleasant weekend. Btw, thanks for the invite!

Hajar Zamzam Ismail :: Extremely sweet~! ^^

Serendipitouslife :: Wa'alaikumussalam sis. Alhamdulillah. :)

Eep! I didn't mention it, did I? Silly me! Putu is, if I'm not mistaken, rice flour mixed with water or coconut milk, and steamed. Usually it's eaten with grated coconut and jaggery. I'll add this bit in the post for the others. Thanks for highlighting it!

Quick It Girl :: Welcome sis! I second to that! Amin! ^^

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the virtual Putu. I can absolutely imagine the taste in my mouth (not my type of stuff though).:)

Aisyah Mazelan said...

Assalamualaikum.

There's Malay couple selling putu bambu and dadih at night markets. Whenever I wanna buy the putu, I always have to wait in a long queue.

Hajar Alwi said...

Serendipitouslife :: LoL~ You're welcome. I don't fancy 'virtual' food either. :P

Ash :: Wa'alaikumussalam. Well, it's worth the wait if it's really good. ^^ The auntie here has a long queue too, but she fills in the waiting time with her stories. :)