Refreshing Melon Salad Recipe | How to make Watermelon salad | Watermelon and Feta Salad [Video]

Refreshing Melon Salad with sweet and juicy watermelon and muskmelon, tossed along with onions, olives, mint leaves and feta cheese. Dressing with an instant balsamic vinegar dressing. Perfect for the hot summer days when the fruits are in season. 

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This year the temperatures started rising in March and it became so hot that I'd begun hating stepping into the kitchen. The thought of the hot stove or even hot food made me balk a few times. And at times like this, I crave a juicy sweet Watermelon that is fresh out of the fridge. And hence came this salad.

Yes, we didn't invent this salad. It's been a family favorite for quite a few years now. We've even tried a deconstructed or reconstructed fine dining version with feta smeared all over large watermelon cubes with little droplets of balsamic. No, thank you, we'd like to stick to the classics.

So this year, we eventually made this salad at home. And coz we did, we also added a bunch of other things we love like muskmelons or cantaloupe and pepitas. When you watch the recipe, you may find it a little busy in the bowl, but trust me, these flavors work together.

And the best part of this salad is, it's so quick to whip up. If you do as I do, prep all your fruits in advance, it cuts down on time massively. And this is a good tip, not just for the salad, but to generally eat your melons. Having a box of already cut melon just increases your chances of eating something healthy. I mean, haven't we all opened the fridge door and stared at all those boxes in there, just thinking of what we could grab and eat. Melons may just be the box you grab next time.

Can this Salad be Veganized?

Absolutely, yes!! Read on...

All the fruits and vegetables are already vegan/plant-based, so you are good on that front. There are just 3 ingredients you want to be careful/change - Honey, Balsamic Vinegar and Feta Cheese.

• Swap honey with maple syrup.
• Traditional Balsamic Vinegar is always vegan. A cheaper supermarket version may have colors and flavors added, that could end up being non-vegan. Search for a certified Balsamic that is made traditionally, or carefully research the ingredient list of the bottle you plan to buy.
• Feta cheese, replace the feta cheese with vegan feta cheese or get creative with some smoked or flavored Tofu.

Enjoy!!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo @oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are up to.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

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Refreshing Melon Salad Recipe | How to make Watermelon salad | Watermelon and Feta Salad

A quick and refreshing Summer salad made of watermelon, musk melon or cantaloupe, feta cheese and dressed with balsamic vinaigrette.

Recipe Type:   Salad
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Total time:     30 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 cups diced Watermelon,

1 cup diced Muskmelon,

1 Cucumber, diced,

1 small Onion, sliced,

5 to 8 Olives, sliced,

50 gms Feta Cheese,

1 cup Mint leaves,

Handful of pumpkin seeds (pepitas),

2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar,

1 Tbsp Honey,

1 tsp Pink peppercorns ( or Black pepper ),

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Take a large bowl and add the watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, onions, olives, mint leaves and pumpkin seeds.
2. Crumble the feta cheese on top
3. In a bowl, mix together the balsamic vinegar and honey.
4. Pour over the salad
5. Sprinkle salt as per taste on the salad
6. If using pink peppercorns, gently crush them and add to the salad. If using black pepper powder, add to the salad as per taste.
7. Mix the salad well and serve immediately.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

Grilled Cauliflower Summer Bowl

Chickpea Salad

Read more ...

Methi Matar Malai Recipe | How to make Methi Matar Malai [Video]

Methi Matar Malai Recipe with step by step video instructions. Methi Matar Malai is a creamy mildly flavored curry made from methi or fenugreek leaves, fresh green peas and cream (malai). 

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There are days when I crave a spicy tantalizing curry that can set my mouth on fire. And then there are days when all I want is milder flavors that calm my soul. This Methi Matar Malai curry is the latter. It is a very mildly spiced creamy curry that pairs excellently with soft roti or naan.

What is Methi Matar Malai?

Methi Matar Malai as the name states, is a curry heroing the 3 main ingredients - Methi leaves or Fenugreek leaves, Matar or Green Peas and Malai or fresh cream. The methi leaves, which are usually slightly bitter are tamed by the creaminess of the malai and the sweetness of fresh peas. You can use fresh or frozen peas here, I will call them both "fresh" as opposed to the dried green peas.

This is more of a winter curry, as both methi leaves and green peas are pretty much at their seasonal best in winters and the warmth and richness of cream just adds that additional coziness to the curry.

To make Methi Matar Malai, we cook together onion, ginger, garlic and cashew nuts, yes, cashews, coz one can never have enough creaminess. Am I right? So this cooked onion-cashew goodness with just a hint of green chillies is blended and forms the gravy base for the curry. The methi leaves are cooked until they wilt and then the blended puree is added and the methi leaves are cooked in this masala until completely cooked. Then boiled green peas are added and the curry is finished off with fresh cream.

Can this curry be Veganized?

Absolutely, yes!! Read on...

While cream is a major part of the curry, it can be replaced by 2 things - plant milk or cashew cream.

Use any plant based milk that is unflavored. Using milk instead of cream will however, make the curry a bit thinner in consistency, so you may need to reduce the amount of water you add at the start.

The other way to have the same creaminess and the same consistency, is to use cashew cream. To make cashew cream, soak a quarter cup of cashews in hot water for 30-40 minutes. Then drain and blend with very little plant milk or water until completely smooth. Use this as regular cream in the recipe. 

Enjoy!!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo @oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are up to.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

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Methi Matar Malai Recipe | How to make Methi Matar Malai

Methi Matar Malai is a creamy Indian curry made with fenugreek or methi leaves, fresh green peas and cream. It is a mildly spiced curry.

Recipe Type:   Side
Cuisine:            North Indian
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     45 minutes
Total time:     75 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

2 cups Methi leaves, washed thoroughly and chopped

0.75 cup Green peas (fresh or frozen), boiled

1 large Onion, chopped

10-12 Cashew nuts

1 Tbsp Ginger, chopped

3-4 Garlic cloves

1 tsp Green chilli paste or 2-3 Green chillies, finely chopped

4-5 Tbsp fresh Cream (malai)",

1 tsp Cumin seeds

3-4 Tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

Water as required

Method:

1. Heat 2-3 Tbsp oil in a kadhai and add the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and cashew nuts and saute until the onions are translucent.
2. Add in the green chilli paste or chopped green chillies. Saute for 1 min. 
3. Remove from heat into a bowl and allow to cool. Once cooled, grind to a fine paste with little water.
4. Heat the remaining oil in the kadhai and add the cumin seeds.
5. Once the cumin sizzles for 30 seconds, add in the methi leaves and continue to cook until the leaves have wilted and halved in quantity.
6. Now add the ground paste and 0.5 cup of water. Mix and boil until the methi leaves are cooked.
7. Add in the boiled green peas and salt to taste. Cook for 3-4 minutes on medium heat. 
8. Slightly whip the cream, so it doesn't have lumps, and add to the kadhai. Mix well and cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes.
9. Serve hot with roti or naan.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Aloo Methi

Matar Kachori

Methi Rice

Read more ...

How to make vegetable puff | Indian Veg Puff Recipe | Vegetable Puffs Recipe | Veg Curry Puffs Recipe [Video]

Vegetable Puff Recipe with step by step video instructions. Vegetable Puffs are a popular Indian bakery snacks made by filling sheets of puff pastry with a spicy potato and mix vegetable mash. Vegetable Puff or Pattis are perfect for a tea time snack.

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Vegetable Puffs or Pattis, as I knew them throughout my childhood, have always been a favorite tea time snack. Layers of crispy flaky puff pastry that crumbled as you ate them, filled with a spicy veg filling, mainly potato. 

Veg Puffs are also so easy to carry that they are almost the most popular food on the walk for me. I used to buy them all the time when I was in college and eat them on the bus on my way home. 

What are Vegetable Puffs?

Vegetable Puffs or Veg Puff or Veg Pattis are a very popular savory bakery snack sold in India. They are very similar to curry puffs that you may find in South Asia but vegetarian. A spicy filling of potato and mix vegetables are sealed in puff pastry sheets and baked until golden. These are a popular evening snack.

While I loved eating them, until a few years ago, I didn't attempt to bake them myself. The reason? the extremely complicated recipe for the puff pastry. I mean you have the rough puff and the traditional puff pastry. The rough puff pastry, while works out perfectly for pies, doesn't really work for our bakery-style puffs. And the traditional one, well I attempted it. I laminated the butter and dough and went through the whole shebang. The resulting puff tasted nothing like the bakery puff. My sister just rolled her eyes saying it tasted too buttery for her liking. Although I hate to admit it, it was true. That puff pastry would have tasted amazing with something sweet like a chocolate puff or something, but for savory, the butter just took over. And I may have messed up somewhere because it never got the nice golden color and the pastry became way flakier than I would have liked. 

Bakery style Puffs....

A few years ago I visited my cousin who had taken up the running of a bakery on contract. He had a cook who would make the pastry and bake the final puffs, while my aunt made the filling. So this recipe of the filling is actually courtesy of her. I would have never thought of adding in the mint leaves, but she did and it tasted amazing. I left it as optional since most bakeries do not add it, but it does taste really good with it. 

Regarding the puff pastry, the cook used vanaspati or dalda (hydrogenated vegetable oil). All bakeries use vanaspati in their puffs, it makes them crispier and is much easier to use as it doesn't melt at room temperature. While it makes the puffs vegan and much easier to make, vanaspati is not good for health.

So in this recipe, we followed the exact same process as that of the bakery, but replaced the vanaspati with butter. This makes the puffs crispy without an oily feeling. While it is not the healthiest recipe around with all that butter in there, it is definitely better for you than the vanaspati. 

Some tips and details

• Use a good quality unsalted butter as this is the taste that will come through in your puff pastry.
• Adding sugar in the dough helps with the color. If you are avoiding sugar, you can skip it, but the puffs will be paler to the eye. You can also brush the puff with milk before baking for more color.
• 3 folds is the common way of making puff pastry. Any more than that may lead to a very dense pastry that may not rise well.
• I sealed the puff a little away from the edge and very gently. This allowed the edges to expand into separate layers. If you seal the edge, the pastry will still taste the same, but may not be visually very appealing.
• The first time I baked the puffs, I made the pastry a week ago and froze it. This puff had more well defined layers as compared to the one I made on the same day. It still tasted great.
• The puffs can be filled with anything you like, the filling recipe here is only one of the many. Feel free to be creative with it.
• If you need to bake in batches, store the remaining puffs in the fridge until the first batch bakes.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo @oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are up to.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

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How to make vegetable puff | Indian Veg Puff Recipe | Vegetable Puffs Recipe | Veg Curry Puffs Recipe

Vegetable Puffs are baked Indian puff pastry parcels stuffed with a spicy vegetable mix. These veg puffs are stuffed with a spicy mix of boiled potatoes, carrots and green peas. This recipe also shows how to make the puff pastry from scratch.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     3 hours
Cook time:     45 minutes
Total time:     3 hours 45 minutes
Yield:                Makes 8 Puffs

Author:                Anupama

Ingredients:

For the Puff Pastry:

3 cups Maida / All Purporse Flour
190gms unsalted Butter
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Sugar
0.5 Lime
1 cup cool Water

For the filling:

3 large Potatoes, boiled and peeled
1 Carrot, diced small
0.5 Green Peas, fresh or frozen
4-5 Garlic cloves
1 Tbsp Ginger, chopped
1-2 Green Chillies
Handful of mint leaves / pudina (Optional)
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
2-3 Tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Method:

To make the puff pastry:

1. Squeeze the lime in the cool water.
2. To make the dough for the puff pastry, take 2 cups of the flour in a large bowl and add 1 Tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt to it. We will use the remaining 1 cup of flour for dusting while rolling.
3. Add in 40 gms of the unsalted butter and with your fingers mix it in until the flour appears sandy.
4. Now add the cool water little by little and knead to a soft and smooth dough.
5. Make a few slits in the dough with a sharp knife and cover and rest for 20-30 minutes.
6. After resting, dust the counter with dry flour and place the dough on it. Roll the dough into a rectangle as thin as possible. Use dry flour for dusting as required.
7. Take 50 gms of unsalted butter and apply it in a thin layer to 2/3rd of the rolled dough.
8. Sprinkle some dry flour on the butter. This helps make the layers.
9. Now gently fold the non-buttered 1/3rd dough onto the buttered dough. Now fold the other end to complete the letter fold. For clearer instructions on folding, refer to the video.
10. Take a baking sheet and sprinkle some dry flour on it and place the folded dough. Cover with a moist cloth and cool it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
11. After 30 minutes, move the dough from the baking sheet to a dusted surface and roll it out again.
12. Repeat steps 7,8,9 and 10. This is the second fold. We will do one more similar roll and fold process.
13. After 30 minutes, repeat the same steps 7 to 9 for the third time.
14. At this point you can choose to freeze the puff pastry if using later. To freeze the puff pastry, wrap it in a plastic wrap and freeze it without folding. If you are planning to make it fresh, then repeat step 10 and continue to make the filling in the meanwhile.
15. If you are using frozen puff pastry sheet, then on the day of making the puff, remove the sheet from the freezer and keep it on the counter 45mins to 1 hour before you plan to bake. You want the dough to be pliable but the butter to still be cold. You can make the filling while the dough thaws.

To make the filling:

16. To make the vegetable filling, grind together the mint leaves (optional), ginger, garlic and green chillies into a paste.
17. Heat oil in a kadhai and add in the mustard seeds.
18. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add in the finely chopped onion and fry until the onions are golden.
19. Add the green peas and diced carrots. Fry until cooked.
20. Add the paste made earlier and saute until fragrant.
21. Add in turmeric powder and salt. Mix well.
22. Coarsely mash the boiled potato and add to the kadhai.
23. You can add garam masala for a spicy filling.
24. Keep aside the filling to cool to room temperature.

To make the puff:

25. Once the filling has cooled, roll out the dough on a surface dusted with dry flour.
26. Dust off the excess flour on the dough with a brush.
27. Cut the dough into 8 equal rectangular pieces.
28. Add a spoonful of filling in each rectangle in the center.
29. Wet your finger with water and lightly apply water along the shorter end of the piece.
30. Fold the pastry sheet to seal the puff. Very gently press a little away from the edges to seal . Do not crimp the edges if you want the layers to puff up and separate.
31. Preheat the oven to 220 degree C. Bake the puffs for 20 minutes or until the puffs are golden.
32. Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Matar Kachori

Masala Bread Toast

Veg Cutlets

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Instant Milk Peda Recipe | Milk Peda Recipe with Condensed Milk | Quick doodh peda recipe [Video]

Instant Milk Peda Recipe | Milk Peda Recipe with Condensed Milk | Quick doodh peda recipe with step by step video instructions. Instant Milk Peda or Doodh Peda is made by combining sweetened condensed milk like mithai mate or milkmaid and milk powder and cooking them on low heat to make instant khova. Pedas are flavored with cardamom, shaped and topped with nuts. Instant milk peda is perfect for festivals like diwali or when you want a quick dessert. This recipe is gluten free and suits a Jain diet.

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Milk Pedas are one of the easiest of Indian sweets, especially with THIS recipe.

You know that time, when you had a nice spicy dinner, and then get this sudden sweet craving, but it's already late and you are so cozily dressed up in your pajamas. And you are torn between changing and driving to the nearest sweet mart or trying to suppress that craving. You don't need to anymore, not with this recipe. 

The scene I just described above, is something I experience almost every couple of weeks. And most of the times laziness wins, I hate changing and going out after 10pm. So I mostly settle for maybe a biscuit or when I am in a good healthy-diet sort of mind, a couple of dates or raisins. But mostly, I'm still thinking of delicious desserts in my head. 

So when you aren't freezing brownies for such nights, give this peda recipe a try and I assure you it won't disappoint. In fact, it is so easy, a 12-year-old can make it, so feel free to delegate this to the little chefs at home. My sister actually won a cooking contest in school making this on an old kerosene stove, so you can guess how simple and tasty it really is. 

Instant Milk Peda is made from just a handful of ingredients - ghee, condensed milk, milk powder, cardamom powder and nuts.

Notes to make the perfect Pedas

Not that you need too many pointers, but I did somehow manage to mess up this recipe once, so I thought I'd rather share the experience.

• When I say 5-6 minutes of cooking, I mean it. Unfortunately, the first time I made the pedas, I went by look and feel rather than timing. I ended up with very chewy pedas, almost like a 5-star or caramel candy if you know. Not a pleasant experience for my jaws. So although the mixture looks runny and sticky after 6 minutes, don't cook it too long. At the maximum, based on the heat, you may need 1-2 minutes more. The pedas will harden and set as they cool, so don't worry.
• What if my advice above failed and you actually undercooked it. Don't worry, put the mix back on the stove and maybe cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.
• What if you totally missed my advice and overcooked it. Well, at least now you know how strong your jaws are. But don't worry, I actually managed to get this working too. Keep the pedas in the fridge overnight. In the morning, remove them and keep them on the counter and allow them to come to room temperature. Somehow this magically fixed the texture in my case. So it is worth a try, don't you agree?

Also, you can top the pedas with any nuts or no nuts at all. I like almonds and pista, so that is what I used.

Flavoring too is your choice. The traditional flavoring for most Indian sweets is cardamom and I stuck with it. You can use saffron, rose, or kewra too. I've tried the rose and it rocks.

Oh and also, since I'm posting this so close to Diwali, have a happy and safe one. 

I have a Diwali playlist on YouTube, that may interest you too, check it out here.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo @oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are up to.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Instant Milk Peda Recipe | Quick Doodh Peda | Milk Peda with Condensed Milk

Instant Milk Peda or Doodh Peda an Indian fudge type of dessert / sweet that is made by combining sweetened condensed milk like mithai mate or milkmaid and milk powder and cooking them on low heat. Pedas are flavored with cardamom, shaped and topped with nuts. Instant milk peda is perfect for festivals like diwali or when you want a quick dessert. This recipe is gluten free and suits a Jain diet.

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     10 hours
Cook time:     10 minutes
Total time:     20 minutes
Yield:                25

Author:                Anupama

Ingredients:

400gms Sweetened Condensed Milk
1.5 cup Milk Powder or Dairy Whitener
8-10 Green Cardamom
1 Tbsp Ghee
3 Tbsp chopped nuts like Almonds and Pistachios

Method:

1. Peel the cardamom and crush the seeds into a powder. Add 1 tsp sugar to help you pound it into a powder.
2. In a non stick pan, add the ghee, condensed milk and the milk powder.
3. Mix well.
4. Cook the mixture on low heat while stirring constantly to prevent the mix from burning.
5. Continue to cook for 5-6 minutes or until the mix comes together as one mass.
6. Add cardamom powder and mix well.
7. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl or a plate. The mix will look sticky, but don’t be tempted to cook it more. The pedas will become chewy if overcooked.
8. As the mix cools, it will begin to harden and set.
9. Grease your hands with ghee and take a spoonful of the mix while still warm and shape into pedas.
10. Top with chopped nuts and gently press so that they stick to the peda.
11. Cool completely before serving.
12. Pedas can be stored at room temperature for 1-2 days, after which they are best stored in the fridge. Do not store them for over 5-7 days.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Kaju Katli

Coconut Laddoo

Holige | Puran Poli

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Tavsali Recipe | Goan Steamed Cucumber Cake Recipe | Eggless Cucumber Cake Recipe

Tavsali is an eggless steamed cucumber cake from Goa. Tavsali is made with a handful of ingredients in a steamer. It has the delicate taste of cucumbers and is mildly sweet from the jaggery. Tavsali is refined sugar free. Tavsali suits a Jain diet and can be adapted to a vegan or plant based diet by just replacing the ghee with oil.

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Tavsali always takes me back to my childhood. When I think of Tavsali, a scene is formed in my mind and I would give anything to go back to it. It is afternoon in my mom's kitchen, stormy dark grey clouds outside and my mom has just removed this fragrant cake from the steamer while the whole house is having their Sunday afternoon siesta.

My mom loved to cook for us when we were little. She'd learn new recipes from friends, colleagues, and neighbors and try it out on Sunday afternoon when we all slept after a good heavy lunch. And this Tavsali is one of those things that she made for us. I don't think it was a dish she grew up with, but learned it later in life and made it several times for us. It was also something she liked, it had all the flavors of her home, Mangalore, for her in it. cucumber, coconut, and jaggery. 

When it started raining this last month, I'd been craving for this. I don't know why but that scene I wrote before was evoked and I just had to have it. So although I got very lukewarm responses to "I'm going to finally make Tavsali", I went ahead and made a small batch. It didn't take much for the lukewarm to turn to favorable response though. One little half piece from the edge of the cake was all it took, frankly speaking. Even the people I thought would not enjoy it, like my brother in law, seemed to take on a liking for it.

All my recent recipes have been a video, but I was unable to shoot one for this. Reason? It was raining cats and dogs and cows and horses when I started cooking this and the stormy winds caused a blackout and I really had the poorest lighting possible. Luckily, I did take a few pics on my phone, so I added those in the step by step photos.

What is Tavsali?

Tavsali is an eggless steamed cake that is made with coarse rava or semolina/cream of wheat, grated cucumbers, fresh coconut, jaggery, cardamom, and some cashew nuts. It is a very delicate dessert. The mild flavors of cucumber actually shine. The cardamom just adds to the aroma without being overpowering. Tavsali is also not one of those desserts that is cloyingly sweet. It is just mildly sweet. But you can definitely increase the sweetness as required. It is also a very moist cake because of the cucumbers which soften when cooked.

More details...

To make Tavsali, we use the thicker rava not the chiroti rava. Rava used to make upma or uppit or Bansi rava can be used. You can also use Dalia or broken wheat partially. While one can use the yellow cucumber, I used the regular green cucumber to make this.

Firstly, the rava is roasted in a little bit of ghee until it is slightly browned or you get a toasty aroma from it. For a plant based alternative, replace the ghee with coconut oil or any flavorless oil. Allow it to cool, while you grate the cucumbers and coconut. Mix together the rava, grated coconut and the grated cucumber along with the water. Add in powdered or grated jaggery, crushed cardamom seeds, a pinch of salt and broken cashew nuts. Mix until the jaggery is dissolved.

Prepare your steamer, you can use an idli steamer or a pressure cooker without the whistle or just place a kadhai or large vessel with water in it and allow it to come to a boil. Place a stand in your steamer or any vessel just to give the cake tin some height. Grease your cake tin or any vessel in which you are going to make the cake with ghee or coconut oil and pour in the cake mix.

The cake mix is not very thin like regular cakes, it is on the thicker side. But if your cucumbers were on the drier side and you did not get enough juice from them, add a little milk or coconut milk to loosen the batter.

Steam for 30-40 minutes on medium heat. A wet knife inserted into the cake should come out clean.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before demoulding the cake. Wait at least 20-30 minutes before cutting it.

Tavsali can serve as a dessert or as a mildly sweet breakfast too. It lasts well for at least one week in the fridge.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo @oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are up to.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

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Tavsali Recipe | Goan steamed Cucumber Cake Recipe | Eggless Cucumber Cake

Tavsali is a traditional Goan steamed cucumber cake made with rava or semolina, grated cucumber, coconut and jaggery. It is a mildly sweet dessert with an option to make it vegan.

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:            Goan
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     60 minutes
Total time:     60 minutes
Yield:                Serves 4-5

Author:                Anupama

Ingredients:

1 cup Coarse Rava (Semolina)
2 Cucumbers
0.5 cup grated Coconut
1 cup powdered Jaggery
0.25 cup broken Cashewnuts
1 tsp Cardamom powder
2 tsp Ghee or Coconut Oil
1-2 Tbsp Milk (Optional)

Method:

1. Heat 1 tsp of ghee or coconut oil in a pan and add the rava. Roast on low-medium heat until lightly browned. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
2. Peel and grate the cucumbers and add to the rava, once cooled.
3. Add the grated coconut, cashewnuts and cardamom powder.
4. Add jaggery powder to taste. I used the full 1 cup, you can add more or less as per your taste.
5. You can either shape the cookie dough as a log before chilling or as a ball of dough.
6. Keep water in a steamer to heat or in a pressure cooker. If using a cooker, don't close the lid.
7. Grease a tin with ghee or coconut oil and add the cake batter to it.
8. Place the tin in the cooker or steamer and close the lid. If using a cooker, do not put the whistle.
9. Steam on medium heat for 35-40 minutes or until an inserted knife comes clean.
10. Allow to cool slightly and then demould. Cool completely before cutting.
11. Store in the fridge if not eating the same day.

Step by step photo instructions:

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