Cucumber Cake Recipe | Dhondas | Tavsali

4.80 from 5 votes

Cucumber Cake Recipe | Dhondas | Tavsali

This Cucumber Cake is a light, nutritious steamed cake made with yellow cucumber, semolina, jaggery and coconut. A delicacy from Goa and the Konkan regions of Maharashtra, this cake is also referred to as Dhondas and Tavsali.

Prep Time15

Cook Time40

Total Time55

Course: Desserts, Sweets

Cuisine: Goan, Indian

Diet: Vegan

Difficulty Level: Moderate

Servings:

Calories: 433kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

1.5 cups rava (semolina or sooji)
1.5 cups jaggery powder or chopped jaggery - organic
4 to 5 green cardamoms
¾ cup fresh coconut - grated and fresh
2 cups cucumber - grated, tightly packed - regular or yellow cucumber - approximate 1 large yellow cucumber
¼ teaspoon cumin powder
2 to 3 tablespoons cashews - chopped, optional
½ teaspoon coconut oil - for greasing the pan

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preparation

Roast the rava/sooji/semolina until fragrant in a pan or skillet and set aside.
Take the cardamoms in a mortar-pestle and powder them.
Discard the peels and keep the cardamom powder aside
Rinse and peel the yellow cucumber. Slice the cucumber and remove the seeds.
Grate the cucumber and set aside.
A lot of the cucumber juice will be collected in the bowl or in the plate. Just add this juice to the batter.

Making batter

In a mixing bowl, take the roasted rava or suji.
Mix in the grated cucumber along with its juice, grated coconut, chopped cashews and add the powdered jaggery.
Add the cardamom powder and cumin powder.
Mix the batter very well without any lumps.
The batter has a medium consistency and is neither too thick nor thin.
Depending on the consistency of the batter you can add a few tablespoons of milk or coconut milk.
I did not need to add any milk as the batter had a medium consistency.

Steaming cucumber cake

Place a trivet inside a steamer or stovetop pressure cooker.
Add about 2 to 2.5 cups water or as needed and let it get hot.
Grease the pan with coconut oil. Pour the batter in the pan.
Place the pan on the trivet, in the steamer, or pressure cooker.
Cover the steamer with its lid. If using pressure cooker, then remove the vent weight (whistle) from the lid and then tightly cover the cooker with its lid.
Steam for 30 to 40 minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean.
When the Cucumber Cake become warm or is cooled completely, then slice and serve them.

Notes

Before prepping cucumber, slice it and check the taste. If its bitter, discard it.
You can use regular cucumber. If the cucumber has large seeds, then remove these.
The batter has a medium consistency. If it becomes too thick, add some milk or coconut milk. If it becomes runny or thin, add some more roasted rava or suji.
Instead of jaggery, you can use regular sugar or brown sugar or raw sugar. Other options are palm sugar and coconut sugar. Note that the taste will change with the kind of sugar you use.
Add more jaggery if needed and according to your taste preferences.

Nutrition