Lavariya | Srilankan Sweet Dumpling | Sweet Recipe

Lavariya, a Srilankan sweet dumpling which is  made from the sweet coconut stuffing wrapped by the lacey rice flour outer layer. When i was browsing for Srilankan recipe, this lavariya(nice name for a recipe, right?) recipe caught my attention. 

It's like our poornam kozhukattai(modak) in an artistic way or we can say it's a merger of idiyappam and kozhukattai. Whatever it is, I really love the way it's made . So far, I have prepared this twice in the past 15 days, now you know how much I like this. They are so fun to make and most importantly it's absolutely delicious !!!

The basic recipe of the filing has been made with coconut & jaggery and flavored with cardamom powder. But I had seen a lot of recipes using cooked moong dal in addition to the coconut, so I tried both ways and liked them. Hence you can try this lavariya with moong dal stuffing or as simple as coconut stuffing.

The recipe that I'm sharing here has moong dal in it, but as said before, it's purely optional. And one more thing to mention here is that if you're making this for the first time, definitely it is gonna take a lot of time for shaping this lavariya,but I guess with little practice, it can be done in much less time.

Lavariya

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Makes : 6-8 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Srilankan
Lavariya, Srilankan Sweet Dumpling, Srilankan Sweet Lavariya, a Srilankan sweet dumpling which is made from the sweet coconut stuffing wrapped by the lacey rice flour outer layer.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
For dough
Rice Flour - 1 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
For filling
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup
Moong dal - 3 tbsp
Jaggery - 1/2 cup
Cardamon - 2

Procedure

First let's make the filling.
Soak moong dal for 30 mins, then add into pan along with enough water, bring into boil.

Close the pan with lid and cook till dal is soft. If you press the dal between your fore finger and thumb, it should be mashed, that's the correct stage.

Drain the extra water and keep it aside, in a pan add the jaggery and water just enough to immerse the jaggery.

Let the jaggery melts completely, drain the jaggery syrup and discard the impurities. Pour the syrup again into the pan and turn on the heat.

Add the grated coconut, cooked dal and crushed cardamom.

Let it cook until all comes together as a thick mass. Turn the heat off and let it cool.

Now for the outer filling,heat the water in a sauce pan along with salt and oil.

Let the water comes to boil, switch off the flame and immediately pour into the measured flour.

Mix it with spatula vigorously until all comes together. Now take the idiyappam maker, take a log of dough and add into the idiyappam maker.

Take a piece of banana leaf/butter paper and squeeze the dough into concentric circle just like idiyappam, then place a tbsp of  filling in the center.

Now gently fold the banana leaf so that the outer layer covers the inner filling. Now hold the banana leaf on both sides and gently roll it from one side to other side for few times, it helps the dough to stick together and form a cylinder shape. 

Place it on the greased steamer plate and steam it for 6-8 mins.

Tada, Tasty Lavariya is ready. Serve it with a cup of tea. 

Related: How to make Srilankan Mani Pittu

Notes:

• While shaping the lavariya, be gentle, otherwise the string would merge and you can't see the lace like texture on the outside
• You can vary the proportion of moong dal and coconut as per your liking.
• Taste best when it's hot.
• You can cook the dal in pressure cooker too, but make sure that it doesn't turn into mushy.