Eggless Almond and Cashew Cake

 A perfect light and sweet dessert as a tea-time snack or just after a delicious dinner.
Servings: 
4

  • 1/2 Cup Maida (fine, low protein wheat flour)
  • 1/4 cup cashew powder (grind cashews in a mixer)
  • 1/4 cup almond powder
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 tsp Ghee
  • A pinch of cardamom powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • A pinch of coconut (dry), grated
  • 1/4 tsp bicarb
  • 1/2 tsp BP

    1.Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.

  • 2.Grease the baking pan and apply some ghee. Use parchment or wax paper to cover the bottom and sides of the pan and keep it aside.
  • 3.Take a bowl and mix cashew powder, almond powder, maida, baking soda, baking powder and cardamom powder.
  • 4.In another bowl, add ghee and whisk till its fluffy (should take less than a minute). Add sugar and blend again.
  • 5.Mix the contents of the two bowls and transfer them to a pan. Add a pinch of maida to grated coconut and and sprinkle it on top.
  • 6.Bake for 20 to 25 minutes and broil for less than a minute.
  • 7.Serve.

COCONUT ROTIS

http://kittensinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2008/01/sri-lankan-workshop-coconut-rotis.html

To accompany the spicy, piquant tomato sambal and creamily delicious paripoo.

225g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
180g freshly grated coconut (use a processor for this if you can - otherwise a lot of hard work!)
30g softened butter (optional)
2/3 green chillies - finely chopped (optional)
2 Tab finely chopped onions
coconut oil for frying

1. In a bowl, mix together the flour, coconut and salt, then add just enough water to form a dough.(If you have any of coconut milk left you could use
 some of that here (either from the paripoo, or the real stuff from cracking the coconut open!The tutor used some 'real' coconut milk, with some coconut milk) from a tin, mixed in with a bit of water.

2. You want the mixture to be very soft, but not so sticky that it sticks to the work surface. 
Work in the onions, butter, and chilies (if using). You may need to add a bit more flour now if the mixture is too wet.

3. Knead for 5 minutes, them leave to rest for about 20 minutes. Divide the mixture into 10 balls.

4.  Heat a heavy-based frying pan until very hot, and add some coconut oil. If you don't have any oil, then you could use ghee instead.
As you do each ball, only add oil if required, you probably shouldn't need to for each one.

For each ball:
  1. Roll out until about 5mm thick. The way we did this in class was to place a ball between two sheets of greaseproof paper, then used our fingers to spread it out.
  2. Peel the roti from the paper and place in the centre of the pan.
  3. Cook for 1 minute
  4. Turn with the spatula and cook for a further minute on the other side.

Serve with a Sri Lankan curry (or curries!) of your choice!