Rice Cucumber Cake

A dear friend of mine once mentioned about their traditional Mangalorean dish called Mandas . This recipe is my interpretation of that dish.

Ingredients:

1 cup parboiled rice soaked overnight ( white or red rice)

1 cup jaggery

1 big cucumber

1/2 cup grated coconut

3-4 cardamoms

Walnuts or almonds chopped few

1/2 tsp baking soda

A pinch of salt

Method:

Drain all the water from the rice and grind in the mixer grinder along with the cardamom. Now add the chopped cucumber and grind.

Then add the grated coconut and jaggery and grind it till all the jaggery has dissolved.

Add a pinch of salt , the baking soda and chopped walnuts into the mixture and mix it well . Now grease a flat bottom steel dish with ghee and pour the mixture into it . There should be at least 2 cm space above the mixture in the vessel for it to rise as it cooks. Now place it in a steamer or pressure cooker without the whistle and let it cook for 30-35 mins.

Prick a tooth pick into the cake . It should come out clean if fully cooked or else allow it to steam for a few more minutes. Let it cool completely before removing it from the vessel on to a serving plate.

Slice it and your super healthy cake is ready to be devoured.

Tips:

Traditionally baking soda is not added and the cake is more dense.

Walnuts are not used instead cashews are used as a decorative.

Little pepper powder is added to the batter.

Over ripe cucumber is used.

Ripe jackfruit can be used instead of cucumber . Here the quantity of jaggery needs to be adjusted depending on the sweetness of the jackfruit.

By Meera Sridhar