Helappa with rice flour, Ada

Helappa or halappa is a delicious breakfast item we had in Sri Lanka. It is prepared with ragi flour in Macaranga peltata leaves (kanda or kenda leaves in Sri Lankan language). On coming back home I prepared it referring to the recipe by Ape  Amma and everybody liked.

This is very similar to ‘ada’ that we make in Kerala. I have great experience in making ada as I was the one who made it for my baby brother’s breakfast every single day, when I was a school girl. We make ada in plantain leaves or Macaranga peltata leaves, which we call ‘vattaila’ in Malayalam.

Last week while coming back from Goa, I plucked some leaves (vattaila) and brought home, planning to make helappa. As I found that ragi flour had finished at home, I decided to try with rice flour. And I must say that the experiment was successful.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice flour for 4 helappas

½ cup grated coconut

½ cup jaggery syrup (Put some jaggery pieces in some water and keep on low fire. Stir in between. When the jaggery dissolves, remove from fire. When it cools a bit, sieve and it can be stored in the refrigerator for use)

A pinch of salt

½ cup (approximately) warm water

Instruction:

Heat a thick bottomed pan and roast the grated coconut on low fire till it becomes dry.

Pour the jaggery syrup, mix well and now slowly add the rice flour with salt, mixing well to avoid lumps.

Remove from fire, slowly mix in water, now keep on low fire and stir for about a minute. Let it cool.

Make it into four balls. 

Keep it in the kenda leaf, fold the leaf and use the chapatti roller over the leaf to flatten the dough evenly.

Prepare all four of them.

You can steam them together, turning them over to let both sides cook.

I usually follow the way I used to do in my childhood. Heat a thava with some water. 

When the water boils, keep two leaves with the stuffing over the water. The folds should be facing each other and the water quantity should not be too much to seep through and make the ada soggy

Now keep a vessel with some water inside (to give some weight) over the leaves. 

Within two minutes the bottom portion will be cooked. It is checked by trying to lift the leaf, which will come away clean from the ada, without sticking.

Now turn them upside down, replenish water in the thava if needed, keep the vessel over the leaves and in two minutes the other side will also be cooked and they are ready to serve! 

The leaves are discarded after eating the ada.

28 August 2019 - Today I made ada in turmeric leaves, that imparts a nice fragrance. Here, rice flour with salt is made into a smooth dough by adding water and spread over the leaf. Fillling of coconut scrapings, jaggery, sliced plantain and cardamom powder is spread over one half and the leaf is folded and the sides are pressed to seal the dough. Then it is cooked on both sides as described above and served.

30 September 2020 - Now I learned to make ada on a dry iron thava on very low heat. It takes about four minutes to cook each side.