Tavsalli (Cucumber Cake )

       First of all I would like to wish all my blogger friends a :

                        "Very Happy Friendship day "

I would like to celebrate this day by sharing with all of you today's special sweet called ( Tavsalli )
Tavshe  is a type of  cucumber which we get during monsoons. It is much larger than the usual cucumber and the skin also is dark green coloured. This Tavshe  is used in many dishes like dosas, thalipits, cakes etc
It lends its own peculiar flavour to these dished but if you don't get it in your area , you can always use the normal cucumber. The taste will of course vary a little bit . One more unusual ingredient in this recipe is the use of Haldi pana (fresh turmeric leaves). I am sending this entry to the event  know-your-natural-sweetness -JAGGERY An event hosted by Archana from tangymind and  owned by Jagruti from Jagruti's Cooking Odessey :

                                                   Tavshe (dark green skinned cucubers )

                                                                             
                                                      Haldi paanna ( Fresh Turmeric leaves )




Ingredients :


Very finely chopped tavshe (cucumber)- 1 big bowl
Semolina (rava )-1 big bowl
Grated fresh coconut - half bowl
jaggery - 3/4 the bowl
Fresh turmeric leaves (haldi paana) - 2 to 3
milk
cardamom powder - 2 tsp
cashews -optional
baking powder - 2 tsp
baking soda 1/4 tsp

Method :

Dry roast the rawa till it slight pinkish and gives out nice aroma, let it cool.

Mix the chopped cucumber with cut pieces of jaggery and coconut and keep aside for 1 hour.
See whether the jaggery has melted , crush the unmolten jaggery pieces by hand as they would have become softer by now.

                            Add rawa, cardamom powder, cashews and again keep for 1 hour.
                                       It the mixture has become too dry add little milk .

                   Line the cake container with turmeric leaves. this lends a beautiful flavour to the cake.
                                Add baking powder and baking soda to the mixture and mix well.

  Put the mixture in the container and bake in a pre heated over at 180 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.

                                                 Insert a knife to see if the cake is baked.

                                    Invert the cake and remove the turmerice leaves.

                                        While serving add a tsp of ghee on the cake slice .
                                                              This enhances the taste.