Traditional Haig Road Putu Piring (Haig Road Market)

Putu Piring ($2.50 for 4) from Haig Road Putu Piring - now this is a famous one, and I couldn't leave the food centre without having it! Indeed this was probably the best Putu Piring I've had. The flour and gula melaka used was somehow different, it was much more aromatic than others that I've had before. A sweet treat to end the meal! 😍

Taste good with the gula melaka sugar and grated coconut.

$2.50/5pcs

Packed in waxed brown paper, the putu piring came with salted grated coconut tinged on the side 》$2.50 / 5pcs

The difference between kueh tutu and putu piring is the use of glutinous rice flour in the former whereas putu piring uses plain rice flour and putu piring is filled with gula melaka while kueh tutu commonly contains grated coconut / peanuts. The brown gula melaka is stuffed in the centre of the batter and melts during the steaming process. This results in a distinct fragrance of steamed rice with moisture and melts in the mouth texture when eaten hot.

It would be even better if these were prepared upon order. I was given a warm packet that was prepared beforehand hence the sugar has slightly solidified but it was still good and tasty.

My Malaysian friend insisted that this is Kueh Tutu. So I decided to drive all the way to Haig Road Food Market to get the original Putu Piring to convince her it is different.

First of all, the flour has gula Melaka wrapped in it and steamed. Kueh Tutu has peanut and coconut fillings wrapped. Putu Piring is served on a bed of desiccated coconut, albeit like Kueh Tutu, with a piece of pandan leave.

If you must relate Putu Piring to some other food, Putu Mayam comes to mind.

Back to the Haig Road Putu Piring. I came in the afternoon and instead of freshly steamed piring, I got 5 pieces per-packed in a paper wrapper. I ate them immediately and the kueh was somewhere between hot and lukewarm. The flour crumbled badly and it was too try to pick up the desiccated coconut.

The gula melaka was nice with strong tones of sweet caramel. But I agreed with my Malaysian friend - let’s stay with Kueh Tutu.

When it comes to Putu Piring, I still prefer to get my fix at @haigroadputupiring’s original location - stall #01-07 inside Haig Road Market & Food Centre. It’s probably psychological but I have always thought their freshly-steamed light rice flour discs filled with thick and gooey gula melaka taste the best. The piece de resistance has to be their grated coconut flakes which never fail to be moist and almost-juicy.

From Traditional Haig Road Putu Piring
Takeaway version. 嘟嘟糕
One of the best hand crafted putu piring.