Ela Ada | Cooking With Kin #10#

A food blog is considered to be the *complete package* when it has short stories associated with a recipe, a simple recipe.. and most importantly, beautiful, appetizing photographs to go along with the recipe. The blogger I'm going to be featuring here today has all the above mentioned qualities in the right amount. And as if that wasn't enough, she names her blog aptly - Hot from my oven. You could smell the smell of fresh bread sitting in front of your computer! Please welcome an Engineer at day and a passionate baker after work - Ramya!!

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Ahem..My first guest blogging!

I am super happy that it’s for such a dynamic person like Kavi and her lovely space..

Student life and cooking is like an oxymoron to me..At least that was the case with me…

Even now my mom says she can’t believe that I am having a cooking blog.

Being the youngest and the laziest in the family I have always kept a safe distance from the kitchen.

The only time I enter was when my mom cooks some super yummy dish and the smell draws me there!

My laziness aside, I am soo impressed at Kavi..such a young age and already on a cooking Spree..You rock gal!

So today I am going to share a Kerala delicacy called Ela Ada .

We usually make it for Onam festival and have it as our breakfast

Ela means Leaf and banana leaf in particular here and Ada is something like a steamed rice cake.

Coconut sweetened with jaggery, Flavored with cardamom is used as filling .

You can play around and add in nuts, banana etc to the filling as per your creativity

As I have a big bottle of Jackfruit preserve, I have added that for added flavoring. But that is totally optional.

Ela Ada Recipe

(Print this recipe)

1 Cup Rice flour

5-6 Cubes Jaggery

2  Cups water

1/2 Cup coconut

3 tbpsn Jackfruit Preserve/Chakka Varatty [Optional]

2 Cardamoms

Heat the water in a pot, once it comes to boil add the jiggery and simmer until the Jaggery is melted

I added some Chakka varatty /Jackfruit preserve to hot water at this stage as my mom had got me a bottle of Chakka varatty  from home.

Stir well until it is well blended

Add about 1- 1 1/2 Cup of this hot water to the rice flour.

Using a spoon or ladle mix it well until it mixed well. Let it cook down a bit, now knead lightly to form a soft dough

[You can add more water/rice flour to adjust the consistency]

To the remaining water in the pot, add the coconut and crushed cardamom.

Sauté on high flame until all water is absorbed.

Do place the cleaned banana leave over low flame for a second so that the leaves are softened and does not crack when you fold .

Take a small piece of Banana leaf, add about a small golf size portion of the dough and flatten it lightly to form a small poori

Add a spoonful of coconut mix in the center and fold the leaf and seal the sides.

Repeat the same for remaining dough

Gently place the Ada on a steamer and steam for 10 minutes.

Let it cool down a bit and have it warm.