A Delicacy As Wispy As Paper

Text by Kavitha Yarlagadda

Pootharekulu is not unlike a wafer biscuit in appearance. Photo courtesy: Fikana Foods

I was eight when my neighbours, who hail from Rajahmundry in the state of Andhra Pradesh, gifted us a box of pootharekulu. That was my first experience of the confectionery, which is about the size of a wafer biscuit with many thin layers. When I bit into it, the sweet layers drenched in ghee and sugar melted in my mouth. The second time I ate it was when I was studying engineering in  Kakinada, a coastal city in eastern Andhra Pradesh. The paper-like delicacy made of rice flour and coated with ghee and sugar or jaggery, is beloved in both the East and West Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh. 

The name pootharekulu is derived from the Telugu words pootha (coating) and rekulu (or sheet). Pootharekulu is believed to have a history that goes back a few hundred years. The story goes that some 300 years ago, an old woman who was cooking rice in a clay pot discovered that starch had accidentally accumulated on the outside of the pot, forming a thin layer. This is said to have been the inspiration behind pootharekulu, which has ever since been made with a filling of sugar powder. 

Pootharekulu is by far the most popular sweet in Andhra Pradesh, especially during weddings and other special occasions. No celebration is complete without it. It is even an integral part of a bride’s trousseau consisting of gifts and sweets, which is called “saare” in Telugu. 

Dotted with coconut trees, the lush green village of Atreyapuram, located on the banks of the river Godavari, is renowned for its pootharekulu. Around 400 families in the village make the dessert. While the women are responsible for making it, the men handle the marketing. Women’s self-help groups in the village produce it in large quantities and send it to many cities in India and abroad. 

 “Because of this delicacy, our village of Atreyapuram [has] gained popularity and recognition,” said Gadiraju Prasada Raju of Fikana Foods, a company that works with the women in the village to supply pootharekulu. “This is a product which has evolved from poverty, and many people like me [from the village] are involved in making it.”

The most important ingredient for the dish is rice. Manufacturers prefer to use the Jaya variety of rice, which is sourced locally from Atreyapuram. This variety was developed during the Green Revolution and is extensively cultivated in South India. The rice is soaked for an hour and ground into a batter. A thin cloth is then dipped in the runny rice dough and swiped on an inverted clay pot, which is heated from below. This forms a sheet-like layer on the pot. These sheets are removed after they turn crisp, coated with ghee and stacked on top of each other. The filling used between the layers includes powdered jaggery, sugar, cardamom and coarsely ground dried fruit. Finally, the layers are folded to a uniform size.  

Only the dried fronds of  coconut trees are used to start the fire. Firewood is not preferred as the fire has to be maintained at a steady temperature to make sure that the sheets don’t scorch or  break. Important details like the consistency of the batter, the thickness of the cloth and the deftness of the hands making the dish are vital to the process. Every element, including the clay used to make the pot, and the quality of the ghee, jaggery and dried fruit, contributes to the flavour 

 The making of the sweet itself is a laborious process, and is not unlike an art project.  

Although powdered sugar is the most traditional filling, dried fruit mixed with jaggery has become popular in recent years. Photo courtesy: Fikana Foods 

Powdered sugar was traditionally used as the filling for pootharekulu. But owing to changing preferences, fillings made of powdered, dried fruit mixed with jaggery has become very popular. Other varieties include cocoa powder, chocolate, khoa or reduced milk solids, honey and ice cream. There is even a savoury variety with chilli. While jaggery and sugar-filled pootharekulu have a longer shelf life, the other kinds have to be consumed within 2 to 3 days. 

“In my house, we all call it the “paper sweet” [because] it just melts in the mouth,” says Varun Kapoor, a student from New Jersey. “I wish that it didn’t dissolve so fast and I could relish the flavours of ghee and jaggery for some more time. Also, as this sweet isn’t available here, we usually get them shipped or someone travelling to India brings it back for us.” 

 Sankalp Vishnu, an author and food critic from Hyderabad, has fond memories of his grandmother making pootharekulu from scratch in his native village of Janampet, Khammam in Telangana. She used to make a couple of sheets the traditional way, coating them with dollops of ghee and sprinkling them with powdered sugar, before folding them all in one go and  handing over the stack to him. 

“As an eight-year-old boy, I remember sitting next to my Ammamma (or maternal grandmother) and watching her prepare the batter, which should be thin and fine in consistency,” says Vishnu. “If it was grainy, she used to filter it using a cotton cloth and use the filtered batter to make the sheets. [I would] help her make the sheets on the pot, while my mother rolled the pootharekulu with the filling.” 

 Saisree Konduri, an HR professional, has similar childhood memories of eating pootharekulu when she visited Rajahmundry—her hometown—during the summer vacations. She remembers the fun that she, her sister and cousins used to have watching her mother and aunts filling the sheets with powdered sugar and folding them up for the children and the family. 

 “The making of the sheets is a laborious process, so we used to buy the sheets and make our own [filling] for pootharekulu,” said Konduri. “My mother used to carry the sheets with her to Hyderabad too to use later.” 

 Due to the longer shelf life of the sheets, many sweet stores across the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana purchase readymade sheets form vendors in Atreyapuram and make their own pootharekulu. Women in the village make the sheets (minus the fillings) and sell them to the vendors, who then ship them to other stores. Women start the process of making the sheets after their children go to school and work at it for two to three hours till the whole batch of rice batter is finished. 

 There is no doubt that this is hard work. On an average, a woman may make up to 600 sheets in one day. Vendors usually pay them Rs 2 (0.025$) per sheet, and purchase them in bulk. 

“There are brokers who give us money for our needs [say Rs 5,000 or 10,000 (approx 60-120$)] depending on our requirements and buy sheets in bulk from us,” says Ande Bhadravati, a woman from Atreyapuram. “The broker takes his cut for giving us an advance, but we don’t have any other option as we need the money.” 

 In order to honour and preserve the skill that goes into this unique dessert, the Sir Arthur Cotton Atreyapuram Putharekula Manufacturers Welfare Association, which is based in the village, has applied for a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for it. 

 As a mark of recognition, the Department of Posts in Andhra Pradesh released special postal covers in August 2021 dedicated to the Atreyapuram pootharekulu. The postal department has also suggested marketing the sweet through e-commerce platforms and delivering it using their network.