'portioned'), also called pittu (Sinhala: පිට්​ටු), is a dish native to the Southern Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and parts of Karnataka, as well as Sri Lanka.

It is made of steamed cylinders of ground rice layered with coconut shavings, sometimes with a sweet or savory filling on the inside.

Muslims in Kerala eat a version of puttu called irachiputti in which rice is layered with spiced mincemeat.

In Tamil Nadu, puttu is mentioned in a common legend and related festival involving Shiva.

This legend, known as the puttuku mann sumantha leelai (translated from Tamil as "the divine game of moving sand in exchange for puttu"), retells how, following a flood of the Vaigai River, King Arimarthana Pandian ordered his subjects to carry sand to plug breaches in the river bank.

Chokkan subsequently reveals his true form as Lord Shiva, grants Vanthiammai moksha, and causes the floods to recede.

This myth is re-enacted yearly during the puttu thiruvizha portion of the Avani Moola festival at the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in the Puttuthoppu region of Arappalayam, a neighborhood of Madurai.

[7][8][9] In 2006, students of the Oriental school of Hotel Management in Wayanad in north Kerala made a 10-foot-long puttu.

They cooked the giant puttu in a specially designed 12-foot-long aluminium mould, using 20 coconuts and 26 kg of powdered rice.

[11] In the Philippines, puto bumbong is deep purple in color due to the use of a unique rice variety called pirurutong.