HALDI LEAF ADA (Sweet Rice Dumplings /Patoli /Panaga /Namkeen Ada)

Tak Tuk Tak Tuk…Hurry Hari Hurry Harry…Quick quick! Off to the farm….pluck please those lovely leaves that look like a lance yet make you dance to its fragrant flavour! A flavour that seeps deep in as you cook and lends a tad turmerish tinge to the finished dish when you look. Leaves that make dishes in your kitchen feel so divine! Widely favoured in food preparations for its herbal use in traditional cooking, cook with these fresh, broad leaves that are green in colour. Get the taste of a rhizome that’s yellow in colour.

Called botanically as Curcuma Longa but known popularly as Indian Saffron (though never a substitute for saffron), these leaves when layered with rice flour dough, filled with coconut-jaggery mixture and steamed in a steamer doles out dumplings with a sweet stuffing…do you now have an inkling what could this dish be? Read recipe right below.

Dish Type: Traditional Dessert

Time taken: 45 min. approx.  (15 min. for steaming + 30 min. for preparation)

Yield: 12 to 15 nos. approx.

Ingredients for Haldi Leaf Ada

For making dough:

Rice flour                    1 cup (200 gms. approx.)

PC: Dr. Harimohan Pillai

Salt to taste                 1 tsp

Water                          ¼ cup approx. (enough to convert flour to chapathi dough consistency)

For filling:

Jaggery powder          1 cup (200 gms approx. for high sweet taste)

Raw grated coconut    1 cup (200 gms. approx. or 1 medium size coconut)

Cardamom Powder     ½ tsp (optional)

Nutmeg powder          A pinch (optional)

For steaming

Turmeric leaves           10 to 12 nos.

Rice flour dough         10 to 12 lime size balls

Jaggery Coconut mix  2 to 3 tsps for each

Directions:

Pour rice flour on to a bowl. Add a pinch of salt. Mix well. Now start adding water little by little. Keep mixing the flour and water till you get chapathi dough consistency. Knead well and keep aside.

Spread turmeric leaf on a steaming vessel. Spread rice dough (1 lime size ball) on turmeric leaf . Thinner the layer of spread, better will be the taste. Fill in with jaggery coconut mix. Fold one half of the leaf over the other (either horizontally or vertically). Steam it in pressure cooker for 15 to 20 min on high flame. Make sure there is enough water in the pressure cooker. Switch off the flame. Take out dumplings from the cooker. Peel off the turmeric leaf from each of them. Top up these dumplings with loads of ghee!

Haldi Ele Adas (Sweet Rice dumplings using Turmeric Leaves) are now ready.

Tete – a – Tete

Recipe contributed by nonagenarian and expert cook, Smt. Parvathy, mother of Architect, Dr.

Harimohan Pillai

Instead of jaggery, salt can be used along with grated cucumber, ginger and green chillies to make the spicy version says Smt. Radhika Nair Pillai.

Similar dish is made in Bengal during winter for Pongal festival

Known by other names like Patholi in Konkani, Arasina Ele Kadabu in Kannada and Ela Ada in Malayalam

Banana leaf may also be used instead of turmeric leaf

In Maharashtra, cooked food is wrapped in turmeric leaves lending dishes a distinct aroma.

Soaking turmeric leaves in water for some time helps in easier folding.

Other options for making outer cover:

        Rice soaked in water for about 3 hrs and ground to a smooth, thick batter using minimum water. Add salt to taste

       Rice flour mixed with water to a thick batter consistency and kept aside for about half an hour. Add salt to taste.

If the outer cover is very thick, Ada looks like this. You dont see any shades of filling. Looks wise it's neat n nice. Not so taste wise since the bland taste of dough overpowers the delicious taste of filling. Also it requires more time for steaming.

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog