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Vettu cake/Fried Sweetened Dough

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This time I am going back to my childhood days, appa used to get something for us to munch while coming back from his office every day. He didn’t forget a single day. Now also when we visited last time, he bought some parippu vada for his daughters, son-in-laws and grand kids even with arthritic paining in his legs. The pain makes it very hard for him to walk.
Vettu cake or fried sweetened dough is commonly displayed in a glass cabinets at most Chaya kada (tea shop) in rural Kerala. It is part of central and coastal Kerala cuisine especially in the rural areas, where these tea shops plays more important role as gossip center, a place where people also discuss politics while enjoying their tea with morning newspapers. In the background Malayalam (language of Kerala) film songs will be playing on the radio. You can get all forms of tea, strong, medium and light along with black tea. Appa always order strong tea for himself and light for us, main difference will be amount of milk. In the light tea there is lot more milk than the strong tea with reduced amount of milk.
Glass display cabinets in the tea shops are always full of snacks like parippu vada, Uzhunnu vada (lentil fritters) and pazham pori (ripe plantain fritters) and main dishes like dosa (pancake), puttu (steamed rice cake) appam etc. Trust me they are tasty, and if you try any one of them you will end up wanting more.
You will be wondering why all of a sudden I write about these tea shop and its delicacies. I longed for this vettu cake, while seeing a YouTube video by my favorite Chef Lakshmi Nair’s travelogue.

In this episode she visits a famous tea shop in Ezhuthani tea shop at  Keralapuram. Kollam district which serves this snack. My father is from Varkala which is 22 min’s from Kollam by train. They make this vettu cake with sugar, all purpose flour and eggs. Duck eggs are used as they are more fat content than the chicken eggs. First they crack the eggs and mix with sugar when it is slightly beaten adds all purpose flour without any tinge of water. Then the dough is allowed to rest for some time and shaped into logs then again into square piece. Each square piece is cut in the middle first then in opposite angle to resemble a cross and then fried in medium hot oil. Over here getting duck eggs is out of question, so I used chicken eggs and then added ¼ teaspoon of baking powder along with cardamom and nutmeg powder. 

I made them without adding any water. It turned out be really good and brought back lot of memories. My little one also approved by trying them. Here goes the recipe. 


One year ago: Churros  and chocolate sauce
Print recipe from here
What you need
All purpose flour: 1 + ⅛ cup
Egg: 1 ( I used a large egg)
Baking powder: ¼ teaspoon
Sugar: ¼cup
Cardamom: 1 pod
Nutmeg: ⅛ teaspoon
Canola oil: 2 cups for frying

How I made

In a medium bowl mix, flour, cardamom, nutmeg powder and baking powder set aside. 
In a medium sauce pot add sugar and egg and when it slightly beaten add the flour mixture to form smooth dough and set aside for 40 minutes resting. (Add only enough flour to make smooth dough).
When you are ready to fry, heat 2 cups of canola oil in a deep bottomed pan. 
Shape the smooth dough into a log and then cut them into five 2x2.5 inch piece squares. Make a deep cut in the center and again one opposite to the first cut. 
Fry them in medium heat for 4 minutes flipping them in between to ensure uniform cooking .Make sure that oil is not too hot then outside gets burns earlier and inner dough will not be cooked. Once they are cooked remove from the oil using a slotted spoon and transfer to kitchen towel to remove excess oil. 

Enjoy with a hot cup of tea, you will addicted to it sure.

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Yield: 5 no
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will

I am linking this  Hearth and Soul Hop #56

5

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  1. kousalya says

    Hi, probably our entry may be off topic but anyways, I have been surfing around your blog and it looks

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    Thanks you.

    Cake Shop Chennai

    Reply

  2. tadkapasta says

    Never seen these before, they look totally cute and irresistible!

    Reply

  3. Sarah Naveen says

    I have had this from tea shops...bringing back lot of memories from childhood, with my grandpa....thanks a lot swathi :)....loved it to the core 🙂

    Reply

  5. Trix says

    How fun to make something that brings back wonderful childhood memories. These look great!

    Reply

  6. Swati Sapna says

    Can I just say that I love the shapes more than anything else?! They look so quaint and quirky!! Something that looks so unique has got to taste good I'm sure 🙂

    Reply

  8. Ameya says

    unusual but yummy cake!!

    Reply

  9. Plateful says

    I remember enjoying this a lot from a cafeteria nearby our home during my school days in Abu Dhabi. I bought it once from a supermarket in Doha but it never tasted as good. Yours looks much better than anything I've ever tasted. Bookmarked!

    Reply

  10. Elisabeth says

    I loved reading your post about your childhood, how you loved these delicious sweet fried vettu cakes.
    I enjoyed watching the video, how it's made, and of course your amazing step-by-step photo tutorial, as well.
    So attractive looking the way you scored the cake into four pieces.
    Thanks for sharing, Swathi:DDD

    Reply

  11. Rosita Vargas says

    una receta muy buina y tentadora deliciosa colación para mi desayuno,abrazos grandes.

    Reply

  12. Concetta says

    Oh my these looks so divine - I wish I had one right now to dunk in my tea!
    <><
    Concetta

    Reply

  13. Mary says

    What a wonderful snack. I have a houseful of people who would love them. Have a great evening. Blessings...Mary

    Reply

  14. SpicyTasty says

    yum yum..delicious snack 🙂

    Reply

  15. Joanne says

    What a super fun snack or dessert! I love those little shapes.

    Reply

  16. Pushpa says

    Delicious snack great combination with a cup of tea.

    Reply

  17. JishasKitchen says

    ayyo ee oru recipe upload cheythu swathy enne sathyayittum kothipichu....ethra kaalam aayenno ethu kazhichittu...and you made it so perfectly...pinne loved that tea glass...nammude naaduinte oorma vannu....good job dear..

    Reply

  18. kothiyavunu.com says

    Adipoli swathi..looks so yumm! reminds me of the days we used to buy these cute cakes from the shops and enjoy for the evening snack..great!! love to try this!

    Reply

  19. thekitchenaffaire says

    Ohh I so love the shape. I am sure it is so yummy too 🙂 Gosh.. I have to try this. Lakshmi Nair is a great anchor and cook :)-+

    Reply

  20. Peggy says

    This dough looks so good! I love that it's fried and slightly sweetened =)

    Reply

  21. Curry Leaf says

    I too have seen Lakshmi Nairs recipe and pics for this (in her cookbook ie) but must checkout the youtube as well. Did you have the recipe or is it hers? Love the nostalgic post.

    Reply

  22. Suja says

    Ethu ethre tinnalum mathiyavilla..looks so yummy

    Reply

  23. Sukanya Ramkumar says

    This sound so good. have seen in some tea shops in chennai. Urs is turned out perfect. YUM!

    Reply

  24. girlichef says

    Every culture has their own type of fried dough, don't they!? And I love every single kind...this sounds fantastic 😀

    Reply

  25. Premalatha Aravindhan says

    Very nice and healthy recipe,am sure the taste will be awesome...thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  26. Vimitha Anand says

    I love this a lot... My dad used to get this from tea stalls back home... Thnx for sharing... Bookmarking dear..

    Reply

  27. Kaveri says

    Nice recipe dear...I was transported to Kerala and its Chaya Kadas...

    Reply

  29. Rani acharyulu says

    It is true Appa's are always caring and support for daughters.Great memories,this cake looks awesome.

    Reply

  30. Kalpana Sareesh says

    Wow so yumm shd try these..

    Reply

  31. Priya Sreeram says

    Looks wow - nice write up & presentation !

    Reply

  32. Sharmilee! :) says

    Wow looks addictive...yummy too :))

    Reply

  33. Nisa Homey says

    This brings nostalgic memories....thanks for sharing...and awesome clicks....

    Reply

  34. srividhya Ravikumar says

    Looks so gud and love the presentation..

    Reply

  35. Hari Chandana says

    Looks interesting and tempting.. Yummy !!

    Reply

  36. Torviewtoronto says

    delicious snack looks wonderful

    Reply

  37. Reshmi Mahesh says

    These look superb...lovely shape and clicks...

    Reply

  38. Sarah says

    I just love these!!! Though I've only had it once on a trip to Karunagapally... And i was an instant fan of this delicious cake...

    Reply

  39. Priti says

    Looks cute n so perfect ....good tea time snack.

    Reply

  40. Alea Milham says

    What a caring appa you have! Your sweet bread looks wonderful. I love the split top.

    Reply

  41. Prathibha says

    Loved the shape..looks yummm

    Reply

  42. Reeni says

    How charming Swathi! I like the shape - kind of like a clover. You made them so perfect!

    Reply

  43. laurie says

    these look so good and I love the shape,, they sound like something my husband would love as well, thankyou for sharing this yummy recipe,,

    Reply

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