Recipe for Sweet Habibi (Date & Roasted Cashew Bathk)
Recipe for Sweet Habibi (Date & Roasted Cashew Bathk)
One of The Best things Social Media has done for so many of us is that it has given us some of the Most AMAZING friends and one of them is the Gift of my dearest Linda Gonsalves Fernandes to me! We connected on A Food Group called Traditional Goan Foodies (TGF) on FB and ever since then we're more than just friends.... Like literally 🙂This Summer, Linda and I recently shot an episode for THE FAMILY KITCHEN here in the UAE for Colors TV. Our Wooooohoooo Moment!! Our Love for GOAN Cuisine is something that we've always been so PROUD of and that's exactly what we cooked on the show as well. Linda made my Favourite Recheado Chicken Wings for me! So Yummmmm And I made a Sweet HABIBI Bathk cake for her. HABIBI in Arabic means "My Darling" or "My Friend" or "My Dear" and that's exactly what Linda is to me 🙂 🙂 🙂 Since Linda and I met and became friends here in Dubai, I decided to create a fusion of Dubai and Goa. The Habibi Cake is A Traditional Goan Bathk made with a twist by adding Dates and Roasted Cashew Nuts, Decorated with Date Cream! A Huge shoutout to our friend Roma Borges from Colors for observing our Passion for Cooking and considering us worthy for this Great opportunity. Our episode was Aired on Colors TV UAE on Sunday, 16th May 2021 at 7:30 p.m UAE time. You can view it on YOUTUBE(The Family Kitchen episode 6) too. Here's the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9lhr6LZwSQ. Do try both the Recipes and let us know what you think Your feedback will mean so much to us! Thank You for Always being so Motivating, Kind and Continuously pouring out your Blessings upon the two of us!Here's the recipe for HABIBI Cake 🙂
Servings 1 kg
Ingredients
- 200gms Dessicated coconut(Dried Coconut)
- 200gms Semolina(unroasted)
- 250gms whole Sugar
- 200gmsDates(de-seeded)
- 120gms Salted butter
- 1/4 cup Oil(Any Oil that doesn’t have a strong flavour. I use Sunflower oil)
- 1.5 Tspn Baking Powder
- 1/2 Cup boiling hot water
- 1/4 Tspn salt
- 2 Tspn Green Cardamom powder
- 1 Tspn Vanilla Essence
- 5 Eggs
- 20-30gms Cashews(adjust as per your preference)
For the Date Cream(thisdoesn’t call for any specific quantities. It all depends upon your taste)
- 2 Tbsp Hot Water
- 50-60 gms de-seeded Dates(adjust the quantity as per preference)
- 1 Cup of Thick Fresh Cream or Stiff Whipped cream(unsweetened)
- ½ Tspn Vanilla essence
Instructions
- In a wide Pan, Roast some Cashew Seeds on Medium Heat and once cooled, roughly chop it and keep aside
- Soak the Dates in Hot water and keep aside until it's cooled down to Room Temperature
- Once the Dates have cooled, you can either blend it in a mixer and make a pulp/pureé or with the help of a Fork you can roughly mash it
- Mix all the Ingredients in a Big Wide Bowl and Keep asideNote: The Traditional Bathk doesn't call for Oil. However, here, since I've used Dates in Hot Water, this could de-hydrate the bathk and it may turn dry. Hence, to ensure the bathk retains it's moisture, I've added Oil.
- Traditionally, after mixing all the ingredients in a bowl, we leave the bathk mix aside to soak at room temperature over night. However, I have received many questions where people are not comfortable to keep the ingredients soaked at room temperature for such long hours, considering the extreme Hot climate. So I've tried baking the Bathk immediately without soaking the ingredients (as I’ve seen my Mom and friend’s Mom Aunty Jaunita baking her bathk) and it turned out absolutely Fantastic. SO if you don't wish to soak the mix overnight, you can bake it immediately.Pre-heat the Oven at 200°c (Top and Bottom Heating simultaneously. If you have an oven that cannot heat top and bottom together, then just bottom heat is fine) for10minutes
- Line a cake tin with Parchment paper and grease with oil(any oil that doesn’t have a strong flavour)Pour the Cake Mix into the tin and leave around 1 inch space for the Bathk to riseNote: Since Bathk doesn’t contain flour, it won’t rise as much as any other cake, so 1 inch space is enoughGarnish with some Chopped Dates & Chopped Roasted CashewTuck the Cake into the oven on the lower most rack
- Let it bake for 10minutes on 200°c and then bring the heat down to 180°c and let it bake for the next 30-40 minutes or until the skewer comes out cleanKeep the Cake tin to cool at room temperatureNote:Do Not be in a hurry to cut the cake when it’s Hot. Not only will you get some big time ‘Chatkas’ but also will the cake break while cutting
- Enjoy your Habibi Bathk with all your Habibis!
- Another Option you have is to make CupcakesAll steps remain same, except that instead of the cake tin you will line a cupcake Mould with Cupcake paper cups and transfer the cake mix into the paper cups(without greasing with oil)
- Pre-heat the oven for 10minutes on 200°c and Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes on 180°c on the lower rack
For the Date Cream(This is optional. Usually Bathk is a Tea-time cake and we don't use any cream. But I wanted to make it a little special for Linda:)
- In a small bowl soak the Dates in Hot WaterOnce it comes down to room temperature and you feel that the Dates have completely softened, take a whisk and make a thick puree
- Add the Cream and Vanilla essence and whip/mix it well
- Transfer the Date Cream into a piping bag
- Pipe some onto the cupcakes or if you don’t wish to do anything fancy, you can skip the piping step and with the help of a spoon ,just add a spoon full of the cream on the cupcake or just simply use the cream as a dip while eating the cake.
