For making the jackfruit filling or preserve:
Ripe Jackfruit, canned- 2 cans or 14 fresh ripe jackfruit
Jaggery- 2 large cubes as shown in picture below (or use brown sugar according to your sweet level)
Cardamom, whole smashed- 4
Water, to cook jackfruit- 3/4 cup
Grated coconut- 3/4 cup
Ghee- 1 to 2 tbsp
Water to cook coconut- 1/4 cup
Sugar- 1/4 cup
For making rice dough:
Rice flour- 1 1/2 cups
Water- 1 1/2 cups
Salt- 2 pinches
Other ingredients
Banana leaves, cut into medium sized squares- 8
Oil- to grease the leaves and hand
Preparation:
For making jackfruit filling:
First have the coconut ready:
Combine 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup sugar in a small pan and heat it till the sugar dissolves.
Add grated coconut to the sugar syrup and cook till the water has dried off. Don’t brown the coconut. Keep aside.
Jaggery that I used, it comes in different size and shape so please add according to your needs. Don’t add too much as the coconut is cooked in sugar syrup too.
Jackfruit preserve:
I used canned jackfruit in sugar syrup. If using canned, rinse the jackfruit under running water and chop it into small.
Place a saucepan over medium heat, add chopped jackfruit, jaggery, cardamom smashed and 3/4 cup water into the pan.
Cook covered till the jaggery dissolves and jackfruit has cooked well.
Remove from the heat, let cool down a bit.
Puree the jackfruit in a blender to a smooth paste.
Return the pureed jackfruit to the pan, add 1 tbsp ghee to it and cook while stirring it. ( I first used only 1 can of jackfruit, this picture has only 1 can of jackfruit that’s why there is only small quantity. I couldn’t stop tasting it so later decided to use the second can too)
Add cooked coconut to the pureed jackfruit and combine well.
Let cook for some more time, if you want you could add 1 tbsp more of ghee.
Remove the jackfruit preserve from the heat and let cool down.
At this point, I was taking deep breaths in and in and in and couldn’t stop tasting…Gosh, the aroma from this preserve is just amazing.
You could serve the preserve just like this. The preserve is so delicious that you might even change your mind and skip the rest of the process
Making rice dough:
Place a saucepan over medium heat, add 1 1/2 cups water to it.
Let the water come to a rolling boil, add salt to it.
Remove the pan from the heat and slowly add rice flour to the water.
Using a wooden spoon, combine it to the water.
Let cool down a bit, knead the dough when it’s still warm so that it will become soft.
Knead well and make medium sized balls out of it, around 8 dough balls.
How to wilt banana leaves:
I used frozen banana leaves, if using frozen thaw it for a few minutes and wash it under running water.
Cut into square shapes, about 8 no’s.
Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat, place the banana leaf over it for a second and turn it to the other side.
By slightly heating the banana leaves it will wilt and this prevents it from breaking apart while wrapping.
You could even place the leaf over the stove flame for a second.
Assembling:
Place the wilted banana leaf over a cutting board.
Grease the leaf with little oil.
Place the dough ball on the middle of the leaf.
Grease your right palm with little oil too, to prevent the dough from sticking.
Using your palm gently press and spread the dough into the leaf and make a thin round kinda shape.
Spread 1 to 2 tbsp of prepared jackfruit over the dough.
Fold over the dough into semi circle shape.
Seal the sides of the dough by pressing it to each other.
Fold the banana leaf over it, fold the sides of the banana leaf and tuck it in. Place the folded side down. If you want you could tie with a kitchen twine.
How to steam cook:
You could steam cook this in a steamer or in an Idiyappam maker or pressure cooker.
In an Idiyappam maker, you can place all of them on the bottom plate, just stack up.
Add some water to the cooker, place the plate with the elayappam into the cooker. Make sure water is not getting into the plate.
Cover and steam cook for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Steam cooking in pressure cooker: Add some water into the cooker, place a small plate stand and on top of that place the plate that has the elayappams.
Make sure water is not getting into the plate.
Cover with the lid and steam cook without placing the whistle on the cooker for about 15- 20 minutes.
Once it’s cooked, remove the cooker from the stove.
Let cool down for sometime as it will be very hot.
Open the lid and take the cooked elayappams out.
Don’t unwrap the elayappams, it should be served wrapped up in the banana leaf.
The aroma of the jackfruit filling and the wilted banana leaf is just seducing and you’ll enjoy not 1 or 2 but many.
Leftovers can be refrigerated.
Tips:
Meet the other fillings you can use instead of jackfruit preserve:
You could use store bought pumpkin preserve that is used for making pumpkin pie instead of jackfruit preserve. It tastes very close to that of jackfruit elayappam. You can skip making the filling, how exciting!
Mung bean filling: Cook mung bean in water, drain the water. Combine the cooked mung bean with jaggery, cardamom and grated coconut, cook till mung bean has slightly mashed up. Use this as the filling.
Coconut filling: Just combine grated coconut with jaggery and cardamom till the raw flavor of coconut is gone. This makes an easy filling.
You could use brown sugar instead of jaggery, just add brown sugar according to your sugar level.
Traditional way of making filling: Traditionally, jaggery is melted in water and made into a thick syrup. Ripe Jackfruit is pureed into a coarse paste which is then combined with the jaggery syrup and coconut. I made in a much easier way. I know grandma’s in Kerala are not going to be happy with my method, boohoo