Every household in kerala has a banana, jackfruit and coconut tree. Rice, jaggery and cardamom is needed. This snack is sweet as well as savory, the sweetness comes from the filling and savory comes from the rice flour which is encasing the filling. My mom prepares a jam out of the jackfruit and she adds it into the ada. Here in this recipe I am adding jaggery and coconut as the filling. It’s an easy, healthy snack.
Ela ada is a traditional kerala delicacy, it’s an Indian sweet dish. These rice parcels on banana leaves are encased in a dough which is prepared with rice flour and is filled with a sweet made out of coconut and jaggery. Then this are steamed and served as an evening snack.
INGREDIENTS
- Raw rice 3 tea cups
- Jaggery 1 cup
- Freshly grated coconut 1 cup
- salt to taste
- Cardamom 4-5
- Cashews finely chopped 7-8
- Banana leaf 1
- Ghee 2 tbsp
METHOD
Wash and soak the raw rice for 4 hours. After 4 hrs , drain all water. Add a cup of water and nicely grind in a grinder till it becomes a smooth paste.
The consistency should be thick. Add salt and mix nicely. Keep it aside.
In a kadai heat 1/4 cup water, add the jaggery. If it is good quality no need to strain or strain for impurities as soon the jaggery dissolves. Once it reaches boiling point add the freshly grated coconut and chopped cashews. Turn off the heat. Incorporate everything nicely.
Powder the cardamom and mix it well with the above mixture/filling.
Take a banana leaf, wash and pat dry. Slit in half through the middle. Then slit each half in rectangular shape as required.
Just add a drop of ghee, spread and grease the banana leaves with your fingers.
Add a tbsp of ground rice and spread all over th leaf. Repeat the process with all the leaves.
Add a tbsp of jaggery mixture and spread it till half way.
Fold the leaf.
Repeat the process with each leaf.
Steam these parcels in a steamer or a pressure cooker without whistle for 15 minutes.
