Recipe - Carrot Cake With An Indian Flavor

1 One half teaspoon Vegetable oil
1 cup Unbleached white flour
plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon Baking soda
One fourth teaspoon Salt
2 lg Eggs
One fourth teaspoon Ground cardamom seeds
1 cup Granulated sugar
One fourth cup Softened clarified butter
(ghee)
1 One half cup Grated carrots
firmly packed
2 tablespoon Chopped pistachios
2 tablespoon Chopped blanched almonds
2 tablespoon Raisins
Edible silver foil (opt.)

"A characteristic sweet of southern India is carrot halvah, a rich, sweet
reduction of carrots and spices that is almost fudgelike in consistency.
This cake falls somewhere between this traditional treat and the popular
American carrot cake. It has a dense texture and the unexpected flavor of
cardamom, yet doesn't require the tedious cooking and stirring of a halvah.

"Special Indian dishes are often decorated with silver foil a
microscopic thin sheet of edible, flavorless real silver, available in
Indian groceries. We have cut edible foil into decorative shapes a
tedious business that must be done in a completely draftless room but
more manageable solid toppings are customary.

"Serve this nontraditional ending to your Indian meal with coffee that has
been brewed with a few cardamom seeds."

Rub a round cake pan that is 9 inches in diameter and 1One half inches in
height with the vegetable oil and then dust it very lightly with flour.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Sift 1 cup flour with the baking soda and salt.

Beat the eggs well in a large bowl. Add the cardamom, sugar, and clarified
butter. Keep beating until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Add the sifted flour mixture to the ingredients in the large bowl and fold
it in gently with a spatula. Add the carrots, pistachios, almonds, and
raisins. Fold them in gently as well.

Turn the cake batter into the oiled and floured cake pan and bake for 35 to
45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and
the top is golden red. Decorate top with edible silver foil.

* Source: WorldoftheEast Vegetarian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey *
Published in: The Herb Companion February/March 1993 * Typed for you by
Karen Mintzias

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini