Roasted Rice Flour

Roasted rice flour is rice ground to a fine powder and then roasted, which cooks out the raw taste and changes how the flour takes water. Mixed with boiling water and a pinch of salt, it forms a soft, pliable dough that presses easily into string hoppers and steams into light pittu. Red roasted rice flour is milled from red rice and gives a heartier, nuttier result; white is softer and paler. Steamed rice flour works in much the same way.

Use roasted flour for idiyappam, pittu, kozhukattai, modak and rice roti. Raw rice flour and ground rice, which have not been roasted, are better for murukku, crisp batters and baking, so check the label for the word roasted when buying for string hoppers. Families who make string hoppers weekly tend to buy the larger bags.

Always use boiling or very hot water with roasted rice flour, added gradually and stirred with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together, then knead once it is cool enough to handle. For flours milled specifically for these dishes, see puttu and idiyappam flour, and for a wheat alternative, steamed wheat flour. Both sit near our rice and puttu flour range.