I don't have an oven and I love to bake. So when I came across a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe for a lemon cake that could be steamed I jumped. What took me further by surprise was that it did not have milk or eggs in it. So a lot of totally veggie friends should like this and its a completely no-hassle, never-fail cake. So here goes...

Ingredients: Grated rind of one lime (make sure you don't get the white part), 3tbsp of lemon juice, 1 1/4 cup of maida, 1 tsp soda bicarb, 2 tsps of baking soda, 100 gms of butter (what's a little indulgence once in a while), butter for greasing (ghee is also a good substitute), 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 1/4 cup yogurt.

For the sauce: 3tbsps of sugar, 3tbsps of water, 3 tbsps of lime juice

Method: Sift together the maida, soda bicarb and baking soda. The more number of times you do this, the better. In a separate deep bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Add the yogurt, lemon rind and lemon juice and mix well. A hand blender will come in real handy here. Once that is done put in a little of the sifted maida mix and stir into the dough. Keep doing this till you have used all the maida and the dough is smooth with no lumps.

Grease your baking dish well and pour mixture into it. Take a big pressure cooker (I used a 5 litre one). Place your vessel separator at the bottom and pour in enough of water. When the vessel in hot, place the baking dish in it. Steam for around 40 minutes. And keep an eye on the water level which tends to dry up in between. After 40 minutes your cake will have a slightly brownish crust on top.

For the sauce, in a small vessel, put together sugar and water and heat. When the sugar has completely melted, take it off the fire and stir in the lemon juice. Pour this on the cake when it is hot. Once it comes to room temperature, slice and enjoy.

Do let me know how it goes once you try it. And look out for reviews of two restaurants we visited over the weekend. One a really new one that is less than a week old and the other that has been there for a while.