14 March 2007

Savoury Cakes


"Hmmm, it smells great", said the husband. "I'm trying out something different", said the wife. "Oh, whatever it is, it smells good", repeated the husband. "I'm baking a cake, a savoury cake", said the wife. "A what?" asked the husband. "A savoury cake", repeated the wife. "What's that!" the shocked husband asked. Unsure how the cake turned out, what it would taste like, the wife kept mum. The husband turned to his newspaper and was lost in the business section.
Later, the wife cut the cake and served the husband – she didn't dare to taste it herself. "What's that?" asked the husband yet again. "The savoury cake", replied the wife. "It's salty and spicy, not sweet like the regular cakes", the wife proceeded to inform. "Ok, I'm the guinea pig anyway", the husband replied resignedly. He took a bite, delivered his verdict and polished off the plate.
The next morning he announced," I'll have that thing you made yesterday for breakfast." He had it with his lunch and dinner too.
The following day a friend came over, the last piece of cake was left, which the husband offered the friend. "What's that?" asked the friend. "A savoury cake", he informed knowledgeably, '"it's got salt and spices in it." "Hmmm, it's good" said the friend, "you must teach my wife to make this."
Here's how the wife baked the savoury cake. It's got a bit of all types of spices, and it's healthy – atleast the wife thinks so!!

You'll need:
2 cups wholewheat four
2 tbsp ragi flour/finger millet flour
2 green chillies
A handful of coriander and parsley leaves finely chopped
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp chilli flakes
4-5 tbsp red, orange, yellow and green bell peppers and mushrooms lightly roasted in 1 tsp butter
½ tsp dry basil
½ tsp dry thyme
A pinch of clove powder
A pinch of cinnamon powder
Salt to taste
1 cup of cheddar cheese
3 tbsp mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Line and grease the baking tin. Combine all the ingredients, reserving some cheese for the topping. Mix well and scrape into the baking tin. It will be a sticky mixture. Top with cheese and bake for 40 minutes. I know the brown colour of the cake isn't appetising, it's due to the wheat and ragi flours. You get a nice crusty, dense cake that is spicy and filling. tastes wonderful, especially when you bite into the bell peppers. And if you decide to overlook the cheese, it's really healthy too!! :)
Tip: Substituting plain flour with whole wheat flour and a bit of ragi flour in this recipe. Read about the benefits of ragi/finger millet here and here. This is also my entry to Sushma's Monthly Cooking Tipology.

29 comments:

FH said...

HAHAHA!! That was hilarious J!!

Looks good with unique flours like Ragi,very creative.I like these savory cakes better than sweet ones.YUM!

I like the new template too!:))

KF said...

Jyo,u are that wife ?!,I am sure my husband will like this..So special thanks to that wife.Nice presentation!!Ente hus evide ella,Trainingl aa..pathirathri kayariyappol kittiyathu kollam,Istapettu

swapna susarla said...

hee hee hee very funny to read the info about ur savoury cake jyothsna!!looks healthy as the wife thinks .:-Dwill try..i have tried ur hot and sour soup.it was really good.will post on my new blog some time.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Jyo, wonderful post. Had a great laugh. Thank you for the entry. BTW: just saw you are in Sharjah - my parents live there too!

Anonymous said...

COOOOOL .... !!! The cake looks awesome...I tried my hands on savoury cake with spinach and my husband said " Could you please remain away from Savoury cake :-) "... May be I would try your versiona dn can impress him in terms of savoury Cake... :-)

Sig said...

:-D That's hilarious, well put... Cake looks yummy, interesting set of ingredients, very creative.

Unknown said...

That was a funny write up..Good entry for MM..

J said...

Asha - Thanks!! You were the inspiration to ahead with this post!! Hugs to you :) I beleive ragi is really healthy, if you can stand the taste that is!! So I add very small quantities of it. Savoury cakes are a nice break from sweets.
Thanks, but I didn't change my template!

Kitchenfairy - You can try this. I'll vouch it was really good and filling. Kids may not like it as it is not light and airy like sweet cakes. Btw, did you read the line about the guinea pig!!!:)

Swapna - This sort of conversation actually took place at home, the friend bit too!! :) Thanks for trying the hot and sour soup. I'm glad you liked it! :)Do try the saoury cake too.

Meeta - Thankyou! I can see it's your first time here, so let me welcome you to Currybazaar! :) Oh, your parents live here too? Great, we may even be neighbours, never know!! :)

Sushma - Spinach is a brilliant idea! Never struck me :( Maybe you can try my cake with sauteed spinach, oh I can already feel the taste!

Sig - Thanks! Do try it and let me know! Yeah, its healthy, just don't count the cheese :)

Mahe - Thanks! I should have put pineapple also in it!!:)

Sundar said...

An interesting post jyothsna.. using ragi in savoury cakes is innovative .Thanks for sharing

Viji said...

Interesting recipe. Healthy too. Tks for sharing. Viji

Mishmash ! said...

Hey jyo that was quite a good anecdote. I had a veggie cake recipe in hand and wanted to try for MM too but somehow got postponed and never happened..anyway when u vouch for this recipe, its boosts my confidence to give it a try. Btw, though u say that u havent changed the template, me too noticed some difference ...page is more bright now!

Shn

Sharmi said...

hey , very innovative "says the wife's friend" ha hahaha...
looks good to me!!
Usually all husband become the experimental _______oops!!

sharmi

TNL said...

Thats certainly different! Nice recipe, I liked the write up too...isn't this is the story of all the wives who try out new things from other blogs on their hubbies?

Anonymous said...

Thats a lovely tip Jyotsna. I have to try this savoury cake with this healthy flour soon...

Thanxs again Dear for participating
-Sushma

Anonymous said...

That was a fun read, wife! very healthy too, says another wife. Husbands are born to be their wife's guinea pigs:) Loved your recipe thanks!

Shilpa said...

Hi Jyothsna, I used to make savoury cakes fairly often, too, but they never seem to rise despite all the baking powder! Yours looks more "risen" that mine, so you can imagine how unpleasantly compact they were!

I saw your date tiramisu, by the way, and left a comment at that post! :)

Pravs said...

Really nice write up. Enjoyed reading it.Is there savoury cakes or your invention ? Cake looks great.

Susan from Food Blogga said...

Wasn't Meeta's choice of savory cakes inspired? I've never worked with ragi or millet flour. I'll have to check them out. Thanks!

J said...

Sundar - Thankyou!. I can see its your first time here. Do drop by again.

Viji - Thanks, do try it!

Shn - Thanks girl! Did I inspire you?? Well, I got inspired by Asha!!! Go ahead and try ours and blog about it, I'd like to learn diff ways of savoury cakes, I liked the concept! I haven't changed my template or anything, but if you think the page looks bright/better, wow, I'm mighty pleased!! :)))

Sharmi - Thanks :) Husbands are such wonderful people, aren't they?!

Trupti - You said it rightly. We wives will hear "whats that" everytime we try something new. :)

Sush - Thanks, and do try! :)

Hema - Hahaha! Same story everywher huh?!

Shilpa - I did see our comment on the tiramisu, thanks:) I'm not a baking expert, but the cake did rise. But when it was cooling, it sank a bit in the centre, thats a mystery or maybe all the cheese weighed it down!! And looking at all that variety you cook, your cakes are certainly not unpleasant I can bet!!

Pravs - Thankyou! Apparently savoury cakes have been around, I came to know about it thru' Meeta's blog (What's for lunch Honey). She asked us to turned around regular cakes with salt, spices, meat, vegs etc. I turned around the flour too!! My cake is an absolute experiment, I didn't know there were cookbooks on these till I read others posts!

Susan - Well, I made these for Meeta's event only! Never knew about savoury cakes till then! I prefer ragi only when the taste is camouflaged with other flavours.

Dr. Soumya Bhat said...

HI ,
first time to your blog.You have many intresting recipes dear.Love this savory dish of yours will surely give a try.thanks for sharing.

Sia said...

ha ha ha... that's so funny jyothsna:)

Shah cooks said...

interesting recipe and funny reactions!

Bong Mom said...

Ha , ha :) good one Jyotsna, so the hubby is now a convert :)
I have never made savoury cakes before , seems like yours is proven so got to give it the first priority

Shilpa said...

Hi again Jyothsna! Thanks for the "consolation", haha, but I suppose you're right about cheese weighing the cake down. Same here, they are always fluffy when they come out of the oven, but then collapse later.

I made date burfi as planned, so you can see them in my latest post! :)

Anonymous said...

LOL LOL That was a good one!!!!! And a lovely cake I am sure!!!! Looking at the colour I sure made a face...... but reading about it in detail I am sure to try this one!!!! :)

J said...

Welcome Soumya! Hope you give this a try!

Supriya - Hahaha!! I know this happens everywhere right!

Shaheen - :) Yeah, reactions are like that only mostly!

Sandeepa - Yeah, the hubby is a.... well, "convert" - nice word! Hey try making a savoury cake, I want to see your version too.

Shilpa - Hi again! Will have to solve the mystery of the sinking cake!! :)

Coffee - Do not judge a dish by it's colour!! Wow, maybe I should change the title of my post!! Hahaha :)

Anonymous said...

Looks good. Can I omit egg in this recipe?

Anonymous said...

Interesting post! jyo, I liked your creative ideas with food...keep mor eof these coming!

Shella said...

You know what. This sounds amazingly good. I am definitely going to try it out very soon. Maybe tomorrow itself.

Hope my hus too likes it,like yours.