Poovada

This dish is traditionally had as breakfast on the day of Thiru Onam. Poovada is steamed rice patty with sweet coconut filling.

Poovada could be cooked by roasting it in an earthen vessel or by steaming. The flavour of the coconut filling changes with region. In some places, a coconut-jaggery mixture is used as the filling while in some other places, sugar is used instead of jaggery. Bananas and flattened rice too are added in poovada. Here is a recipe of jaggery poovada.

Ingredients
1 cup roasted rice flour
Hot water as required
Grated coconut as required
2 tbsp shaved jaggery
A pinch of cardamom powder
1 tbsp ghee

Preparation
Pour hot water into the rice flour, along with some salt. Mix well
After it has cooled down, mix until the dough is soft enough
Into a bowl add grated coconut, shaved jaggery, cardamom powder and ghee. Mix well using your fingers
Grease the plantain leaf with some ghee. You could also light roast the plantain leaf to make it soft
Spread the dough thinly on each piece of plantain leaf using your fingers
Place the coconut €“ jaggery mixture on one end. Fold the plantain leaf and press to seal
Steam the plantain packets for at least 20 minutes on medium flame
Or your could roast the packets on a hot tawa by flipping it
Serve hot.