Pootharekulu

Pootharekulu (పూతరేకులు) is a sweet made by layering ghee, sugar and other ingredients on rice sheets so thin they are translucent, then folding or rolling them. It is emblematic of Atreyapuram in Andhra Pradesh, South India, and is also known as the “paper sweet.” The white wrapper is not paper but an edible film made from rice.

Making the film with cloth, not by rolling out dough

The translucent film starts from a liquid batter of soaked, ground rice. Rather than pouring the batter into the inside of a pot as usual, the pot is turned upside down and heated on the outside. When a thin cotton cloth soaked in batter is swiftly wiped across that hot curved surface, a thin film is left behind. Once cooked, each film is peeled off without tearing and stacked one sheet at a time.

A single film is a reku; several are rekulu. The name Pootharekulu combines pootha, the Telugu word for “something applied, a coating,” with the word for these thin sheets. The singular form poothareku is also used to refer to a single folded sweet.

The equipment also needs preparation. In the method published in the Geographical Indications journal, the surface of an earthenware pot is heated and repeatedly wiped with an oil-soaked cloth to make it smooth. If the pot surface stays rough, it is difficult to peel off the finished film without tearing it. Only after the surface that will receive the thin film has been prepared does the work of cooking the batter begin.

A local rice, jaya biyyam, is used for its strong stickiness. From soaking the rice to peeling off each sheet, the artisan balances the thickness of the batter, the heat of the pot and the amount of batter left on the cloth. The batter is spread thinly and cooked so that each film can be peeled off in one continuous piece.

Those who make the rice sheets, and those who wrap them

The cooked sheets are brushed with ghee, a clarified butter, then layered with sugar, jaggery, nuts and the like, and folded. Jaggery is a non-centrifugal sugar that retains its flavor. Long, narrow rectangles are the best-known shape, but some are folded into triangles. Besides folded forms, there are also products in which the thin films are rolled up in layers. Even if it looks like a single thick wrapper from the outside, the cut surface reveals stacked layers of thin film.

Local work involves a division of labor between cooking the thin films and adding the filling and wrapping. Some women make the sheets at home and supply them to sweet shops, while other artisans handle the folding at the shops. Shyamala, an artisan in Atreyapuram, describes the version made with only sugar or jaggery and ghee as the form made in the village for generations. Versions finished with just sugar and fat continue to be made alongside those with added nuts.

According to a history given by a producers’ association in 2023, the work of making the thin films at home has spread from women of a limited community to various communities in the village. While the range of products in shops has grown, the work of the women who cook the base sheets at home continues.

The Geographical Indication (GI) journal lists six varieties, including white sugar with cardamom, jaggery with pepper, a version with cashew nuts and a version with several kinds of dried fruit. The rice film is common to all, but the aroma of the filling and the size of its pieces differ. There are also new developments that wrap chocolate and other fillings.

A legend of a sweet born from rice-cooking water

In the origin story, excess water from rice cooked in an earthenware pot spills onto another hot pot. Peeling off the film that formed there and eating it with sugar is said to have been the beginning. It is a local tale of a sweet born from rice-cooking water. Today’s production uses a ground rice batter, adjusting its thickness and the heat of the pot to cook the thin films.

The village is said to have a history of about 300 years, but neither the first person to make it nor the year has been established. Today it is given at weddings, engagements, pre-birth celebrations, festivals and other occasions, and it is also a sweet that temple visitors take home. On August 21, 2021, India Post issued a commemorative cover depicting this sweet, and on June 14, 2023, the GI registration certificate for “Atreyapuram Pootharekulu” was issued. Even as it has expanded from local household production to sales in distant places, the work of cooking the sheets and wrapping them without breaking them remains at the heart of the product.

Pootharekulu with dried fruits. A product made by rolling thin rice sheets in layers; the layers are visible in the cross-section. Photo: Balajijagadesh. Image source / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Glossary