karkala cake

This bowl of goodness is neither a pudding or a cake but is called as both all over Mangalore and Karkala. What's in a name, anyway?
I've been dreaming of relishing this ever since my last visit to India. Incidentally this has been the new 'sweet' dish as an addition to the wedding's breakfast eats taking the place of good old Ksheera/sheera. Karkala cake a new dish?  OK, maybe not new to those living in India, but it is to me who missed out on a whole decade of weddings and other religious occasions back home.

The recipe was found in an almost neglected and as a scrap piece of shabbily written recipe with more scribbles  covering the rest of the paper around it. As excited as I was to find the hidden treasure, I was  also skeptical of the mood I was in while I took down the recipe. Now I was really hoping  I  had paid attention,  as the writing didn't look as neat as it would on my good mood days. Yikes! You know what I mean! ;)

Either way, I was on a quest to make it till I get this right! 
Glad I did, because it turned out heavenly....yeah yeah, bit heavy for just a mush of Yumm'ness but, my friends along with me are  the one's that relished this and gave a positive review so you just have to take my word for it!    Trust me!
    
 So here goes the real part you've been waiting for...
recipe courtesy - Raj maam ( a wedding cook who makes amchi food finger licking good) 


Ingredients:
2 cups ground whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
2.5 cups water(warm)
1 cup ghee (yes, u read it right!)
1/4 cup chopped cashew
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Roast wheat flour in ghee till light brownish on a slow to medium flame stirring constantly. The unmistakable aroma of roasted wheat flour is hard to miss. (I usually add 1 whole cashew in the beginning and when the cashew turns brown I know the roasting is done)

Now add all cashew and raisins. Roast for another 2 minutes. At this stage cashew browns real quick.Add the sugar while stirring constantly.

Add the warm water and cardamom. Stir till the whole mixture comes into a ball & leaves the sides of the pan without sticking(which is pretty quick).Done!
See, it was easy after all.
Serve warm.

This dish went to Uma's Poovathingal's house for the Haldi-kukkum prasadam on occasion of Laxmi pooja.
G's note: there is no way you could mess up this dessert. I can take pride in vouching for this fail proof recipe. I'm not going to take credit to the recipe but I assure you that this is a life saver for last minute get-together. I certainly hope that my friends will relish and indulge in this heavenly dessert, guilt free with me.

The most favourite part of making this (apart from taste testing, of course!) was the cleanup of the kadai..absolutely clean, like it was never used... now there is absolutely no excuse or reason to not make this, is there?!
In closing, this wasn't as hard as I thought it would be!