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.

a plate of ela ada with my cat standing behind.

Ela is Malayalam for banana leaf and Ada translates to parcels. 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 imparts a flavour to the parcel that is impossible to mimic. So, an ela ada without ela is never the same but it surely will help in feeding your homesickness.

A plate of ela ada with one parcel sliced.

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, this brand is not always available. 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.

Back on that website, I found Patoleo’s recipe which is very similar to ela ada except they use turmeric leaves or jackfruit leaves instead of banana leaves. Patoleo dough is made with rice flour and normal water, so I will stick with normal water for Ela ada. And, you do what you are used to or comfortable with or what your rice flour pack states.

Ingredients

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 coldas 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. The written content of this post was updated on 7th April 2021.

bengal gram and coconut filling and ela ada dough.

Prepare the filling and let it cool before you can stuff into the rice flour parcels. The filling can be made ahead. Prepare the dough and start wrapping.