Kumbilappam

Kumbilappam is a sweet from the state of Kerala made by rolling a leaf into a cone, filling it with a sweet rice dough and steaming it. When the jackfruit version is unwrapped, the fragrance of the leaf and the sweet aroma of the fruit rise up.

In one example using ripe jackfruit, the fruit flesh is cooked with jaggery and mixed with coconut, cardamom and roasted rice flour. A fragrant leaf is rolled into a cone and filled with the thick dough, and the tip of the leaf is folded in.

They are cooked through to the center in a steamer and then taken out.

The rice flour absorbs moisture from the fruit and sugar, and becomes a soft dough when steamed. The leaf serves as a mold while also imparting its fragrance. In Kerala, fragrant leaves called vayana or therali are used, and the sweet is also known as therali appam. When the dough is packed all the way to the bottom of the cone, unwrapping it reveals a sweet that has taken on the shape of the leaf.

In a method using banana, the fruit is steamed and mashed, then mixed with roasted rice flour, coconut and a jaggery syrup. Packed into leaf cones and steamed, it takes on the sweetness of a fruit other than jackfruit.

Shaji Jose, a farmer in Kerala, recalls that in childhood this sweet was made at home whenever jackfruit season came, and that it was eaten in large amounts in place of rice at dinner. Shaji Jose later grew fragrant edana trees and began making the sweet with family and delivering it to a nearby tea shop. A homestyle flavor that links the seasons of leaf and fruit has also reached teatime in town.

The jackfruit version is just one example; depending on the season and the household, other fruits may be used, or it may be made without fruit. Patoleo, which is also wrapped in leaves and steamed, is found on India’s west coast as well, but it is made by spreading rice thinly on a turmeric leaf and wrapping a filling inside.

Glossary