Ela Ada (Valsan ), is a Traditional Kerala (South Indian) snack dish served on of Hindu festival occasions like Diwali & Karthika. It is made of rice dough, filled with a sweet mix of coconut and jaggery (brown sugar), flattened inside the leaf. It is then steam cooked. In this preparation, I used brown rice flour but normal white rice flour may be used instead!
Ingredients
- Rice flour : 2 cups
- Hot Water : 3 cups (adjust)
- Grated Coconut : 4 cups
- Jaggery : 1.5 cup (adjust)
- Cardamom powder : ¼ T-sp
- Salt a pinch
- Banana Leaves
Method
- In a bowl add the rice flour, salt and add a little water at a time and make a soft dough (little looser than chapati dough).
- In a separate bowl, add the powdered jaggery , coconut and cardamom powder and mix it.
- Wash the banana leaves and wipe it with a kitchen towel.
- Divide the dough according to the size of the banana leaves.
- In the center of the leaf place the dough and flatten it with fingers, dip the hands in between for making flattening easy avoiding the dough sticking the fingers.
- Then layer the filling (see the pic) and fold the leaf.
- In a steamer add enough water and allow it to boil.
- Once it’s boiled well, place the adas and wait for cooking it . Typically takes 15-20 minutes. Can see the color of the leaves changed .
- Switch off the stove and wait for the steam to settle, before taking the adas out.
