Moist sweet potato semolina cake

What do you do for breakfast on the weekend when the light and airy Vata in you needs extra grounding and nourishing (which is the case for me no matter what the season or time of day 🙃)? Bake a delicious ayurvedic cake with sweeet potato! 😍 The gunas/qualities of sweet potato are heavy, moist, warm and smooth - in other words perfect to counter the light, dry, cold and rough attributes of Vata (Read more about the doshas here

Once you try sattvic ayurvedic meals, you will realise what clean eating actually feels like.

For eg.

-This recipe does not use any leavening agent which aggravate Vata due to the lightness and airiness they bring to the food.

-The spices used here gently stimulate Agni - the digestive fire aiding digestion but they not excessively pungent or strong like garlic or chillies which cause a disturbance in the mind and in the digestive tract

-Eggs are not used as they are heating, heavy to digest and tamasic so not ideal, especially for breakfast when Agni is naturally weaker

-the amount of sweetener and fat used is also very limited as compared to traditional baked items

It is however heavier than porridge for eg., so best to enjoy this tri-doshic breakfast occasionally when Agni feels strong and as always, CHEW well and stop at the first burp ☺️

Sweet potato semolina cake

Serves: 1

Prep-time: 10min

Cook-time: 20min

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup grated sweet potato

• 1/8 cup + 1 tbsp spelt or rice flour (I used brown rice flour)

• 1/8 cup + 1 tbsp whole wheat semolina

• 2 tsp ghee + more for finished cake

• 1 tsp maple syrup

• 1/8 tsp fresh grated ginger

• Pinch turmeric powder

• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp anise

• Pinch of salt

• Hot water

Method:

1. Mix grated sweet potato with semolina and rice flour in a bowl

2. Add all the spices and ghee and stir

3. Add enough hot water to form a cake-like batter. If you use rice flour, the mixture will not be gooey/sticky but that's ok.

4. Apply some ghee on the inside of a baking tin, pour the cake mixture in it and bake at 175 C for 20 min or until tooth-pick comes out clean

5. Let it rest for 5min to allow the elements and tastes in the dish to harmonise. Ok, I admit - by the time the food is ready I am starving and it is difficult to wait the extra 5min (which is why I managed a picture only of the last piece of cake here :D) But trust me, it makes a huge difference in the taste

6. Cut into pieces, add some more ghee (optional) and enjoy warm.

Variations/Add-ons:

• Maple syrup - you could add a chopped date or use 2 tsp of jaggery instead of maple syrup (jaggery is heating, maple syrup and dates are cooling and hence great for warmer weather or Pitta-types).

• If using honey, pour over the baked cake AFTER it has cooled down a little. Honey should never be heated, used in cooking or baking as it turns toxic.

• I do not like my breakfast too sweet but you could add a little bit more sweetener according to your taste.

• Having a lot of Pitta in my digestive tract, I am happy with moderate amount of spices and actually used half of the anise and cinnamon mentioned in the recipe. Experiment and see what works best for you :)

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