What does one make for your sons birthday if he does not want a sweet cake?? If one is calorie concious or cannot eat sweets and has an aversion to artificial sweetners?? Well i was with this dilemma on my sons birthday and thought there has to be a way out! Ofcourse i could bake a focacia and put candles on that and cut it but i wanted to create something out of the ordinary, something never created before (at least by me!!!) and ofcourse something that would not compromise on taste ( my son simply loves good food!!). So i cracked and cracked my brains and decided to surprise him and the whole family!!!
I thought of a salted semolina cake baked in a bundt pan(bundt pan is a round pan with a hole in the middle) and then i thought of a chicken curry filling for the middle of the cake!
My son simply loves chicken curry with mushrooms. I always feel that mushrooms compliment chicken so well.
The result was simply awesome…the semolina cake fluffy and yummy and the chicken curry ofcoruse as always flavoured to perfection with my own signature brand curry powder which has the right blend of spices and not chillies….. so let me teach you how to make this cake???
By the way the vegetarians can make any vegetable curry of their choice instead of the chicken curry , One can also make seafood, fish or even an egg curry.
FOR THE CAKE:
200 grams of fine semolina
350 grams of white natural yogurt
1 teaspoon of salt
50 ml of water
1 teaspoon of eno fruit salt
Mix the semolina, salt , yogurt and water in a bowl and let it rest for 2 hours. Add the fruit salt to it and immediately pour it into a greased bundt pan . Cover the bundt pan with foil paper. Place it in an oven tray which you have filled with water. Put the pans in the oven and bake at 200 degrees for about 30-40 minutes till the cake is set. ALTERNATIVELY: you can steam the bundt pan in a big saucepan which you have filled with water. Both give the same results.
FOR THE CHICKEN CURRY:
500 grams of diced chicken breast
100 grams of portobello mushrooms or any type of mushrooms. cleaned and slivered
1 onion made into a paste with 5 cloves of garlic and 1 small piece ginger
a few curry leaves or a bay leaf
3 tablespoons of Nitu Didi curry powder
1 cup of coconut milk
green chillies and coriander leaves chopped
1 teaspoon of cornstarch dissolved in 4 teaspoons of water
salt to taste
6 tablespoons of oil
Lemon juice to taste
METHOD:
In a pan heat the oil and add the ground onion paste with salt. Cook till the onion paste changes color and the raw smell disapears. If it starts to stick to the pan please add a bit of water and continue cooking ( i say this because not all pans are the same :)…). When the paste is cooked add the curry powder and immediately add the diced chicken ( this ensures the curry powder does not burn). Toss till chicken is half cooked and then add the mushrooms and the green chillies and the curry leaves. Cook a few minutes more and then add the coconut milk. Bring to a boil. By now the chicken should be cooked through.
If you like the sauce a bit thicker you can add the cornstarch mixed in water. If you like it a little tangy add some lemon juice at the end with the coriander leaves.
For a thai flavour you can add some chopped lemon grass and fish sauce ( in my home they dont like it). Fish sauce is salty so please use just a bit.
TO ASSEMBLE:
un mould the semola cake and place it on a platter. Spoon the chicken curry in the middle. Decorate with sprinkled coriander leaves and place the candles and be ready for the celebration!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL!!!!!!