Instructions

Fine rice flour is used to make the outer layer for this dumpling. So it is important we roast it well and keep it ready.

Also since we are going to add water to knead the dough, it is always better to use water little by little.

For the outer dough preparation:

Heat a nonstick pan and dry roast rice flour on low flame for 5 minutes.
Transfer to the bowl and let it cool.
In a pan, bring 1.5 cups of water to a boil.
Add ghee and salt, when it starts to rolling boil, remove.
Slowly add this to the roasted flour, using a spoon mix the flour with water.

When the dough comes together almost to become a dough, you can stop adding water and knead with your hands.
We have to knead until the dough becomes smooth and soft to touch.

For the stuffing preparation:

Heat a nonstick pan with ghee, add jaggery and coconut.
Saute for 5 minutes or until jaggery melts completely.
Make sure the stuffing is sticky aromatic.
When the filling is ready, add cardamom powder and mix well and keep it aside.
Alternatively, you can simply mix the grated coconut and grated jaggery together and place it as stuffing.

How to assemble and steam:

We use banana leaves to steam these dumplings.
So cut the leaves to small squares.
Slightly warm the leaves over fire for it to become soft and it will be easy to fold without tearing.
You can alternatively use baking paper instead of leaf as well.
Grease the leaf with ghee.
Divide the dough into equal balls.
Take a ball and flatten over the banana leaf.
Place a spoon of the prepared stuffing and spread uniformly.
Fold from one side to cover it completely, and seal the sides by pressing gently.

Fill the steamer with water and bring to a boil.
Place the prepared leaves on the plates and steam for 15 minutes or until it is cooked completely.
If you are offering as prasadam, partake and enjoy.
Or you can serve this as snack too.

Substitutions

We use freshly grated coconut, if its not readily available you can use desiccated coconut or frozen coconut as well.

This is a gluten free sweet, you can try other gluten free flour to make this, though it may not taste as the rice flour based sweet.

Variations

The stuffing for this recipe is made by melting and cooking the jaggery along with coconut.

We can also make by adding powdered jaggery to the coconut and adding the powder on the spread dough. The jaggery will melt during steaming.

This will also remove the fear you may have about the jaggery getting overcooked.

Equipment

I mostly use nonstick pans for my cooking as it is easy to handle. However, while making the stuffing, you can heavy bottom pans as well.

We need a steamer and banana leaves for wrapping and steaming the Easy Elayappam.

Storage

For Easy Elayappam, both the rice flour and coconut can be frozen for later use. Or you can easily make the sweet and refrigerate as well.

Just before serving, microwave for a minute and serve. It tastes as good as before.

Expert Tips

Kneading the dough well with hot water is very important to make it smooth and soft. So use a spoon and mix the hot water well.

Once it cools down, knead with your hand to make a soft ball.

Show the leaf over fire for it to turn soft, this will make it easy for you to fold the leaf to wrap.

Grease the leaf for easy removal.