Savory Semolina Cake

Since I rarely plan meals ahead of time, I am usually at a loss for what to make when it’s time to get started on my cooking for the day. It was one of those weekend mornings when I was stumped, as usual, on what to make for breakfast. I turned to my bookmarks folder for help and inspiration came in the form of this recipe that I’d bookmarked ages ago, from Arundathi’s blog. The original recipe is Anjum Anand’s, and here she demonstrates how the cake (I like to call it a baked rava upma ) is made.

Ingredients:

1 cup semolina/rava/sooji/cream of wheat

1 cup plain yogurt

1/3 cup water (somewhere between ¼ to ½ cup of water - use just enough to make a thick batter)

½ tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp roasted cumin powder

1 tsp baking soda

Salt

Also required are:

2 Tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

2-3 finely chopped green chillies

5-6 curry leaves, finely chopped (kasuri methi would work too, for a different flavor)

½ tsp ginger paste

½ onion, finely chopped

¼ red bell pepper, chopped

¼ cup frozen peas

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 F and grease a loaf pan.

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, green chillies, chopped curry leaves and ginger, followed by the vegetables in quick succession. Cook for a minute or two, stirring frequently.

In a large bowl, mix together the semolina, yogurt, water, the contents of the pan, and salt to make a fairly thick batter. Add more water if required, to bring the batter together.

Stir in the baking soda and immediately pour the batter into the loaf pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is golden-brown. Mine was almost done in 30 minutes; so I turned off the oven and just let it sit inside for another 5 minutes or so.

Remove from the oven and cool for a bit. Slice and serve.

Eggless Mango Cake

A few months back, I came across this cake on RedChillies' blog and promptly bookmarked it. It looked like one of those recipes that I just had to try out immediately and I did- the very next day, and with fantastic results. Since then I've made this cake many times.

I most recently baked a loaf of this bread/cake a few weeks back for my sister and brother-in-law when we visited them in Montreal. It was a big hit and was enjoyed by all.

My recipe is adapted from RedChillies' recipe, which in turn is inspired by this recipe on Sify Food.

I replaced the butter in the original recipe with oil and used almonds instead of walnuts in this recipe although I have used walnuts at other times. I like to use brown sugar instead of the granulated sugar that the original recipe calls for.

Ingredients:
1 cup canned mango pulp (you can find this at most Indian grocery stores)
1 cup + 1 Tbsp semolina/rava/sooji
½ cup + 2 Tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp powdered cardamom
1 tsp baking powder
¼ cup oil
A pinch of salt
¼ cup slivered almonds (reserve a few for sprinkling on top of the batter)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a bread pan with foil and grease with oil/butter.

Mix together the mango pulp, semolina, sugar, cardamom powder, oil, salt, almonds, and baking powder. Let the batter stand for 10 minutes and then pour it into the greased pan. Sprinkle some almonds on top of the batter and bake at 375 degrees F for 25- 27minutes (check after 25 minutes).

Cool, slice and serve.