Take a piece of clean muslin cloth. Place the crushed shallots and fennel seeds in the cloth. Tie into a tight kizhi or potli. Boil water, coconut milk and salt along with the kizhi (remove the kizhi after boiling). Pour this into the rice powder (as much as required) and knead into a smooth dough. Place this into an idiyappam press and squeeze into chirattaputtu maker/ puttu funnel. Steam till done. Serve hot with curry.