Ela Ada (leaf parcels) is a Kerala delicacy traditionally made using a banana leaf (ela) to wrap the rice parcels (ada) that are stuffed with sweet coconut and lentils and are steam cooked.
Ela is Malayalam for banana leaf and Ada translates to parcels. I had no access to banana leaf but was resilient to get this done to feel closer to home. The dough for Ada or parcels is made with rice flour. The filling for Ela Ada is made with grated coconut and channa dal that is sweetened with either sugar or jaggery and flavoured with cardamom and shallots. I know for many onions or shallots in the sweet dish is totally new and weird, but we love it. The stuffed parcels are steam cooked wrapped in a banana leaf but we can skip the leaf and still make these parcels. The ela or banana leaf definitely imparts a flavour to the parcel that is impossible to mimic without the leaf. So, an ela ada without ela is never the same but it surely will help in feeding your homesickness.
Not everyone has access to banana leaf and even if we do they are not worth the price. I have tried making ela ada or elayappam using ziplock bags or baking parchment papers. The paper doesn't go into the steamer but is just used to roll, wrap and seal the parcels.
Normal water or Boiling water
I had one big dilemma - should I use normal water or boiling water to make the rice flour dough. My mom said amis podi does not need hot water but no one seems to know the reason. So I too never tried any other brand other than amis podi. But after we moved to UAE, I don't see this brand so I did some research about rice flour dough and found this article that explains when to use hot water and when to use normal water. Based on this article, ela ada dough can be made with normal water. I went to Lulu to pick up a pack of aripodi and like always stood looking at the numerous options - like what is the difference between aripodi and idiyappam podi? Anyways, I saw Nirapara's Rice Powder pack that has an ela ada image on it. There was no instruction but their idiyappam pack instruction mentions hot water. I did a thorough check on their website and found Patoleo recipe which is very similar to ela ada except they use turmeric leaves or jackfruit leaves instead of banana leaf. Patoleo dough is made with rice flour and normal water! So I guess I will stick with normal water for ela ada. But, you do what you are used to or comfortable with or what your rice flour pack states.
(My late Ragee - the curious cat)
Ingredients for making Ela Ada
- channa dal: aka split chickpea or Bengal gram.
- coconut: It is best to use freshly grated but you can easily use desiccated coconut too. Use water to hydrate the desiccated coconut.
- sugar: I have used sugar but you can replace it with jaggery which is the traditional choice.
- ghee: we use ghee in making the filling for the parcels but you may use butter.
- mini shallots: a small amount of shallot or onion gives this sweet dish the Moplah touch.
- cardamom: adds aromatic flavour
- rice flour: I have used the brand amis aripodi which roasted rice flour and never required hot water to prepare the dough.
- water: hot or cold as per the rice flour pack instructions. I have always used normal water to make the dough.
- salt to taste
- oil to grease the pan and palms
Updated on 19th June 2017. - Used Baking paper this time and felt this is a lot easier to handle than a ziplock bag.
How to make Ela Ada without Ela? Sweet Coconut Parcels Recipe
Yields: 12 to 15 Parcels
INGREDIENTS
- Large freezer bag or baking paper, or if you can get the actual banana leaf, nothing like that...
- Steamer or idli maker
For the Filling:
- ¼ cup of channa dal, soaked in water for a couple of hours
- ¾ cup freshly grated coconut*
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon of ghee
- 1 mini shallot sliced
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- Salt to taste
* You may use desiccated coconut fluffed with a splash of water
For the Dough:
- 1 and ¼ cup rice flour
- 1 and ¼ cup water (approx)
- Salt to taste
- Oil to grease the pan and palms
METHOD
Prepare the filling:
- Pressure cook the chana dal with salt and water until done. It should retain its shape. Once pressure cooled, open and drain the cooked lentils.
- Heat ghee in a pan and saute the sliced shallot on a low flame until translucent.
- Add the grated coconut and sugar. Keep stirring until the sugar is completely melted.
- Once the sugar is melted, add the lentils and stir well until the mixture comes together.
- Stir in some salt and the ground cardamom. Adjust salt, sugar, cardamom as per your taste and keep this aside to cool completely.
Prepare the dough:
- In a large bowl, combine the rice flour and salt and gradually add water and mix it until it forms a dough that is easy to handle. It should not be sticky or watery, you should be able to make balls. The number of balls depends on the size of the parcel that you are planning to make. Smaller balls, a little stuffing, or bigger balls and more stuffing.
Prepare the Ela Ada without ela:
- Tear a baking paper into four squares and use two. You may use a zip lock bag or freezer bag or any plastic sheets like milk packet etc.
- Divide the dough into equal-sized balls. Take one dough ball and make it smooth by rolling between your greased palms.
- Place it in the centre of a baking paper square and cover this with another piece.
- Use a rolling pin to carefully roll the dough into a round shape (you can move the stack to get the shape)
- Remove the top sheet and place some filling on one side of the rolled dough (leave space around the border) and bring the other corner of the sheet to close the parcel. Now you will have a semicircle, half-moon shaped ada. Refer to the pictures.
- Press along the edges to seal the parcel and ensure there is no opening.
- Open the sheet and carefully release the parcel and place it on the steamer.
- Repeat to make as many parcels your steamer can hold.
- Steam for 10 minutes or until cooked. You can check for the firmness of the dough to ensure it is cooked.
- Store in a hot pack and serve warm with a cup of chai. To re-heat, you have to steam for a few minutes only, other ways of reheating will make it dry.
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