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Friday, April 13, 2007

Ela Ada - Steamed Sweet Dumpling

Ela Ada is a traditional kerala dish, which makes a great breakfast or a evening snack. Ela in malayalam means leaf and the leaf used in making this Ada is banana leaves. Before using banana leaves to make ada, the banana leaves has to be mildly wilted. By holding the banana leaf on top of a low flame for a few seconds, this can be done.Then cut the leaf to small desired pieces.
This is my first shot at making ela ada and i am satisfied with the outcome. I have tried with rice dough and ragi dough.

Ingredients for rice dough

1 cup - Rice flour, lightly roasted
1.5 cup - Water
1 tbsp - Oil
Salt to taste

Ingredients for ragi dough

1 cup - Ragi powder
1/4 cup - Rice flour
Salt to taste

For filling

1.5 cup - Grated coconut, fresh
150 gm - Jaggery
2 - Cardamom, powdered
3 - Ripe plantain, cut to small pieces
1 cup - Beaten rice / Aval / Poha

For wrapping

Banana leaves

Method

1 ) To make rice dough - Boil water in a pan, add salt and oil.To boiling water add rice flour, put off the flame, stir and mix the flour very well. Close with a lid and set aside for a while. When the dough cools, but still slightly warm, knead the dough well and then make balls out of the dough.

2 ) To make ragi dough - Use enough cold water and mix all the ingredients listed for ragi dough.

2 ) To make filling - Boil little water & jaggery in a pan. Once the jaggery has dissolved, filter it and remove any dust particles. Then again boil melted jaggery to a thick syrup. Add coconut, beaten rice, Cardamom powder & banana pieces. Mix all ingredients well and cook till the filling is thick. Take off the stove.

3 ) On a small piece of banana leaf, place one rice dough ball, press and spread out on the leaf. Dipping your fingers in water will make it easy to spread the rice dough on the leaf.
Make small balls of ragi dough and spread out like the rice dough was done.

4 ) Spread the filling in the center, like in the picture. You can even just use grated coconut as a filling.

5 ) Now after the filling is done, fold the leaf in half and then press. Press the sides as well, so that the filling will not come out.

6 ) Place the prepared banana wraps in steaming vessel and steam for 10 to 15 minutes, till it is fully cooked.

7 ) Take the steamed ada out of the banana leaf wrap and serve.

Enjoy this delicious Ela Ada for breakfast or as a sweet treat.

If banana leaves are not available then parchment paper is used to make this ada. Check out Surya's Healthy N spicy and Priya's Kitchen to make with parchment paper.
Ammupatti's thoughts have displayed in a video, how traditionally elai adai is made.

17 comments:

Priya Bhaskaran said...

Ela ada yum yum...comfort food and delicious:)

Richa said...

beautiful presentation! the pictures are so mouth watering, only if i cud reach thru & taste!!

I've tasted a similar sweet at my friends place, rice flour covering with jaggery+coconut+elaichi, shaped into modak and then steamed. I can imagine how good this must taste.
thanks

Sia said...

beautiful... its very similar to genasale we make. yummm...those banana leaves itself is making me so nostalgic...

Sig said...

Wow Pravs, Ela Ada, yummy... looks great! Happy Vishu to you, are you going to cook up a feast tomorrow?

Anonymous said...

Ela ada.... yum yum yummo! I love it. We usually make with jaggery+coconut mixture alone... I'll have to try this banana mixture too... thanks for this recipe.

Rg.

Pravs said...

Hi Priya : It's indeed a comfort food.

Hi richa : Thank you. Now this is something you could try, since the filling is almost similar, minus the banana and beaten rice.

Hi Sia : Thanks. I was so happy to find banana leaves here.

Hi sig : Happy vishu to you too !!
illa, no feast...just making such traditional dishes. Will keep Vishu kani. Are you making a feast ?

Hi Rg : Thanks a lot for pointing out the typo. I was posting this recipe past midnight,yesterday. so you can imagine, how alert i am in correcting mistakes :D

Kribha said...

Pravs,
good picture and recipe. I've had this only two times before, but only with rice dough.Ragi dough is a good variation too.Step by step pictures gives me confidence to try this. Thanks for sharing.

KF said...

Ela ada was one of my favourite afterschool snack,But I never had that in Ragi..Lovely presentation!

Sumitha said...

Pravs happy Vishu to you and everybody in your family!

Pravs said...

Hi Kribha: Thank you. With ragi too it's really nice.

Hi Kitchenfairy: Thanks. :D

Hi Sumitha: Happy vishu to you too.

Shah cooks said...

that is one delicious looking ada. the jaggery seems to melting out!!can i have some?

Anonymous said...

Ila ada.. yum!!! I don't get banana leaf here and I believe ila ada taste and smells best if you make in them.

Vishuaashamsakal!

Maneka Nirmal said...

ela ada....oh..i luv them..my mother used to make it with jackfruit and banana fillings..thanks girl..u brought me back to my mom's kitchen.

Sharmi said...

I had this Ela Ada for the first time this friday. We had a pot luck and my friend got some frozen ones. it tasted good. if frozen tastes good, yours must be really great. thanks for the recipe.

Pravs said...

Hi mallugirl: Sure, be my guest.

Hi reena: yes, it does. You can try looking in Asian stores for banana leaves. Vishuaashamsakal to you too.

Hi Menaka: you are welcome.

Hi Sharmi : Now you can make fresh ones with my recipe.

Padmaja said...

Hi pravs
this is one of fav and always ask my keralite friends to make but never tried though.
I always ask for appam, idiappam and ada!!

Its looks delicious!!!

Suganya said...

It is looking very nice..... This recipe sounds new to me........But i want to try it out.......