Ila Ada and Kozhukkatta – Steamed Rice Delights from Kerala
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The house sure feels empty, now that my parents have gone back to India! Three months sure flew by so quickly, I hope they had a nice vacation here. It’s been almost fifteen years since I spent three months at a time with my parents. Well, during college days, I used to go home every weekend, so that doesn’t really count I guess! Even then, its been eleven years! We had a great time, but I know they were more than eager to get back to their lives back home.
Among all the nice things about having them here, the warm and delicious homemade food waiting for us every night was just icing on the cake. I got to taste a lot of my childhood favorites, some cravings only your own mom can satisfy. Two of those favorites she made this last weekend -of which I still have some left in my fridge, trying to make them last by savoring one piece a day- Ila Ada and Kozhukkatta.
Both have the same ingredients, a dough made of roasted rice flour, and a sweet filling of sugar/jaggery and grated coconut. Ila ada is made by spreading the batter thin on banana leaves and the kozukkatta is essentially a rice flour ball , both filled with the same sweet mixture and steam cooked. My mom made the kozhukkattas with sugar, and the adas with brown sugar, you can use either one or powdered jaggery in both these recipes.
Ila Ada
Kozhukkatta
Ingredients
- 2 cups roasted fine rice flour
- About 2 cups water
- A pinch of Salt
- 2 tsp Ghee(clarified butter)(optional)
- 1/2 tsp Coarsely ground Cardamom powder
- 1/2 tsp Coarsely ground Cumin powder
- For the filling
- 3 cups Shredded coconut
- 1 cup finely grated jaggery/brown sugar/sugar (or to taste)
- For Ada
- banana leaves cut into rectangular pieces (4″x7″)
Method
Mix the shredded coconut and the grated jaggery(sugar) for the filling.
Boil the water, along with a pinch of salt and ghee if using. Reduce the heat and add rice flour, cardamom and cumin powder. Mix well to form a fine smooth dough without forming any lumps. The consistency should be not too loose, the mixture should be thick enough to hold itself when made into balls.
Ada
Remove the dough from fire and form about 6 equal sized balls and keep aside.
Divide the filling also into the same number of portions.
Place each ball on a piece of banana leaf and flatten it with fingers to spread it as thin as you can on the banana leaf. Place the filling in the center, fold the banana leaf over and press the ends along the edges to secure the filling.
Steam the adas in a pressure cooker (for about 3 minutes) or use the steamer insert for the rice cooker (about 7 minutes) or a regular stove-top steamer (about 7 minutes)
Kozhukkatta
Remove the dough from fire and form equal sized balls of desired size and keep aside. (About 12)
Divide the filling also into the same number of portions.
Place each ball in the palm of your hand, and press with the other hand to flatten. Place a portion of the filling in the center of the flattened dough, and mould it back into a ball shape with the filling completely inside.
Steam the balls in a pressure cooker (for about 3 minutes) or use the steamer insert for the rice cooker (about 7 minutes) or a regular stove-top steamer (about 7 minutes)
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Category: Desserts, India - Kerala, Rice
two of my favorites! now look what you have done! made me all home-sick wishing my mom is visiting me making these dishes for me…
I have had this but the frozen version. would love to try at home.
looks awesome.
I was trying to find a step by step on net to make these, u know something? my husband is from trivandrum, and when I told my fil about ada, he thought I was referring to adai dosa and same happend when he told me “ada dosa” I thought maybe he was referring to the shape of this ada and telling dosa
) But it became clear when he made it:) I then was surprised at the different meanings a word has in different parts of the same state 
[...] we always have some “palaharam” (snack) with the evening tea. One of my favorite palaharams is Ila Ada, rice dumplings filled with a coconut-jaggery mixture and steamed in banana leaves. I normally eat [...]