CURRY AND SPICE: SUJI COCOA CAKE

Suji / Semolina is my most loved grain after rice.... Rice will always remain my first love.... something that never causes any kind of uneasiness to the stomach.... if only it did not have a major contribution to the increasing width of our body. Anyway, since baking is not my forte, because I still love experimenting with different ingredients, I discovered that cakes with semolina give me little less of tension and the family like them too. However, one should not go by the standard of my family's fondness of my home baked cakes. Take it from me, they have eaten all my "horribly gone wrong" cakes without a noise. That should have been enough reason to be a standard baker by now. Do not I love them? Not that, I do not know why I feel lethargic, unwilling to follow rules and ethics of measurements that one must when it comes to baking. I think once I blog about a "Dhakai Porota".... I should be able to concentrate on "learning to bake".... until then there will be "just" decent cakes like this SUJI COCOA CAKE at this home. A Bengali blogger with pots full of ego inside like me should master the art of perfect "Dhakai Porota" first. I did it once last year, it was nice but not that crisp.... so did not click. Not all sweet shops in Kolkata do it, I used to have it in a shop in Nagerbazaar, DumDum whenever I visited our friend Tanushree's home back in the early 90's.... The sweet shop is still there, I still pass by it on each of my visit but I refrain from having it. That stupid ego says, "do it yourself S, you must!".... I think I have to soon to satisfy myself, else my family is happy with the variety of "luchi / porota" I prepare for them.

I leave behind all the ego and pray for the mankind when I enter a religious place. Yesterday was the day our daddy found a better place for himself two years back than listening to our mother's complains all day.... why he is not like her father always working at the garden and doing the right investments.... you know na our mother do not have a world beyond her mother, her father, her sisters & brothers, her children.... okay, she is fond of two of my father's brothers too...... Since I ask her to learn to think beyond, broaden her horizon just as our father did, she is more fond of her son now who is her pet. He is seven years younger to me, I cannot be jealous of him. That he is into a decent life & job today if not great to my standard is largely my contribution.... I will always take that credit. When he sent me the picture of what our mother cooked for our father yesterday, I felt like sharing it with my readers. I must mention that my brother cooked that omelette, I hear that our Pa loved his son made omelette with tomato sauce. Yes, my brother learnt to cook during his two years of staying alone in Durgapur as a bachelor. The daddy loved "khichuri" with dollops of ghee, a variety of fries including fish, "payesh", "mishti doi", "fruits".... so there was... Together the daughter, the son and the wife offered him what all he loved. Do not look at the furnitures of my paternal home.... they are 30-40 years old.

I went to the Ramakrishna Mission yesterday of which my parents are followers, the brother's wife's family too.... On any major occasion, his wife would go to the Belur Math being an ardent follower of "Maa Sarada".... Me too is not an exception.... I visited there yesterday evening, sat for a while, contributed a small amount of donation and came back to have a "samosa" with "teh o kosong".... To be honest, I crave for "shingara" and feels I have to make it soon to be able to have it.

I am flexible when it comes to religion, that off course is the husband's influence on me.... rather the joint influence of the father and the husband.... I do enjoy my lunches at Muslim restaurants and without that super store, few South Asians can survive here... The pro-Hindus do not think twice before getting the food or any item handed over by a Muslim or say a vice-versa.... are they a hypocrite like me who does not allow beef inside her home? I have lessened the amount of pork intake for health reasons... but having chaats, appams, dosa, adhirasam everything.... what a dumbo!

Of late, I have decided not to sit and eat on a too rustic place.... I discovered hair on a dosa.... I should not go for a 2 -3 $ meal. My lunch today is poha with lots of veggies.... its full of carb I know.... yet, unwilling to buy oats. Leaving aside the chia seed, I was having tea with "ruti" this morning. My honest declarations may cause irritation in you just as your pretence does to me. Come to me leaving behind tricks & politics, else do not come.... I have stopped expecting or trying to woo you .... you will not get sugar coated words from the rustic me either.

After discovering hair on my food in a local eatery, I have increased the number of experiments at home... I am not keen on spending 8-10$ for lunch everyday when my men carry home cooked lunch boxes. My next try is soaking and pasting some idli rice, adding coconut milk to it and preparing thin crepes. Yes, I will not buy an appam pan or ferment the batter just because I love it. When successful, shall do a photo feature. Let us come to the cake I baked on the 14th of April... last to last Sunday. Cristine was on leave, I had to plan for a few ingredients, easy cake... one to be taken to a dinner date I went for later in the evening and one for the family. My wish was not instant.... you can see that I got home the Stevia extract in advance.

I did so because I wished to have at least two slices of the SUJI COCOA CAKE with my morning tea. No, I am still not a wise person, I had "ek bati bhorti shinni", "jilipi o golap jam" in the past week at two different friends' places. Resistance Training of the Mind is the first step to a healthy life, weight loss programme which I failed in miserably. However, surviving on "ghol and dal" cannot be a part of a healthy diet either. If one has the resistive power, one should take the liberty to spend on a dietician. I cannot because I know I cannot survive without junks, spicy meat and fish curries. This cake is simply made without using expensive nuts, dry fruits, this & that and using the convection mode of my microwave oven. Reports say it tasted good, whoever had it said it was good! My request was like "please give me an honest review".... I will not claim it to be a super soft cake... it was not... it was dense & moist... not "norom tultuley ba furfurey"....

INGREDIENTS :

SUJI / SEMOLINA : 11/2COFFEE MUG
COCOA POWDER : 3TBSP
BAKING POWDER : 1/3TBSP
BAKING SODA : 1/2TBSP
SUGAR ALTERNATIVE STEVIA : 1SMALL TEA CUP [YOU CAN USE SUGAR OF THE SAME QUANTITY]
MILK : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
PLAIN YOGURT : 1SMALL TEA CUP
OIL : 1/3SMALL TEA CUP
CINNAMON POWDER : 1TSP
VANILLA ESSENCE : 1TSP

PROCEDURE :

Take the semolina, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, sugar alternative on a bowl.