A Hatti is an earthen cookware used for cooking curry. Rice is cooked in a pot shaped Mutti. Prior to the commencement of cooking, earthen cookware should be well heated until turned black. Mostly, the leftover coconut is put in earthen cookware and burnt till they turn black. Once a cookware is turned fully black with soot all over, it is washed and taken for cooking. Although cooking in earthen cookware takes comparatively long time, food does not react with the clay surface to produce toxic matter. When curry is being cooked in a Hatti, it is covered with a Kara Mudiya (lid).
Cleaned Hatti and Mutti are naturally sterilized by the rays of sun when stacked in the outdoor Valan Messa