Pootharekulu

Pootharekulu (Paper Sweet)

Pootharekulu stuffed with jaggery and dry fruits
Alternative names	Paper Sweet
Course	Snack
Place of origin	Atreyapuram
Region or state	East Godavari
Creator	Atreyapuram
Serving temperature	Room temperature
Main ingredients	Rice starch/Black gram, powdered sugar or jaggery, ghee
Variations	Vegetable poothrekulu
Other information	Unsuitable for diabetics

Pootharekulu (పూతరేకులు, plural) or Poothareku (పూతరేకు, singular) is a popular sweet from Atreyapuram, East Godavari, India. 'Pootha' is coating and 'Reku' (plural Rekulu) is sheet in Telugu. PoothaRekulu are also known as ‘Paper sweets’ as they give the appearance of folded paper.

It is a wafer-like sweet created in Atreyapuram, a village and mandal in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. The village is well known for preparation and trading of this sweet. It is a labor-intensive job. It is procured at very cheap prices. With value additions, it becomes a delicacy which is sold at high prices in the cities.

It is made from a particular rice batter called jaya biyyam (biyyam means rice), powdered sugar and ghee (clarified butter). To make the edible film a hot pot is first to be prepared. To make the pot suitable for making edible films, a hole is made in it and it is alternately heated and wiped with a cloth dipped in oil for three days to smoothen the surface. To make films, coarse rice is ground for nearly two hours and made into batter. It is diluted and a thin cloth dipped in the solution and put on the inverted pot with flame under it. The edible film forms on the pot instantly. The edible film thus obtained is wrapped with sugar/jaggery and coated with ghee

Pootharekulu can be stuffed with different items such as fine powdered sugar, jaggery, dry fruits, chocolate powders, etc. For diabetic people Pootharekulu is available with artificial sugars of less calorific value.