putu, noun

/ˈpuːtu//ˈpʊːtʊ/
Forms:
phuthu, phutuShow more Also phuthu, phutu, puto, uphuthu.
Origin:
See putu pap.
Maize-meal porridge, made in either of two ways: a. very stiff (see stywe pap), or, b. stirred into a dry, crumbly consistency; krummelpap. In both senses also called pap noun, putu pap. Cf. mealiepap sense 1. Also attributive.
1952 H. De Leeuw in Bosman & Bredell Veld Trails & Pavements 161She dug the stirring stick into the thick mess of meal...A lump of putu fell over the edge on to the mud floor.
1953 P. Lanham Blanket Boy’s Moon 6To know how the Putu was spoiled, must one have been present at its cooking.
1956 J. Chatterton Return of Drums 12The one pot contained a thin gruel...The other contained putu — dry lumps of cooked mealie meal — on top of which was a piece of meat.
1961 T. Matshikiza Choc. for my Wife 102Ehe, the one who does not eat phutu, too bad!
1971 Nat. Geog. Mag. Dec. 746Roast chicken and uphuthu, a kind of hominy that has been a staple Zulu dish for centuries.
1980 Family Post 9 Feb. 2Bobby Lang notes that these days on the Rand it is the smart thing to serve phutu very stiff with the chops, boerewors and steak at braais instead of baked potatoes. However, braaied meat and phutu have been popular on white farms in many parts of South Africa for generations.
1990 R. Malan My Traitor’s Heart 150As a child, she used to hang around the black cane-cutters’ shacks, sharing the wild spinach and putu they cooked in iron pots on open fires.
very stiff (see stywe pap), or,
stirred into a dry, crumbly consistency; krummelpap. In both senses also called pap noun, putu pap.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19521990

Browse Related Words

By Category

Foods and Dishes
Putterie, nounn.putu pap, noun phrasen. phr.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English.