A good Handvo (a savoury cake made using rice, lentils and veggie as it is widely known) made in a traditional way i.e. in a handva patilee or the handva patra (funnel pan shaped vessel with a tray at the bottom that needs to be filled with sand and not mud) takes atleaste 1/2 a cup of groundnut oil for 2.5 to 3 cups of flour. The oil lends a soft and moist crumb and that signature crust that we fight for. Cutting back the required quantity of oil means we are compromising on the quality of crumb and crust. Since past couple of decades, as oil and ghee became those undesired monsters of our daily cooking we have shied away from using oil our previous generations used. But a good handvo will require oil just like a good focaccia will need to be drenched with olive oil or a butter cake will need equal amounts of butter!!
This recipe is to the basic Handvo we make in pan over a stove top or bake in an oven. I prefer the pan version over the baked one as baking using less oil does make the crumb dry. To any regular handvo we just add grated bottle gourd another ingredient that helps give soft crumb, one can also add leftover khichri or rice to it. Pan cooked or oven baked Handvo is a workable solution, the best is the one made traditional way. One that we would enjoy along with keri- gunda achar/raw mango pickle with each morsel dunked in the achar oil and small bowl of milk on the side. Ah,those dinners…
The recipe for homemade Handvo flour can be found here.
Some more recipes of Handvo on the blog are
Handvo
Ingredients
- Fermenting the batter
- 1 + 1/2 cup Handvo flour
- 2 tablespoons groundnut oil
- 1/2 cup sour yogurt
- 1/2 cup water
- Adding to the fermented batter
- 2 cups grated bottle gourd/doodhi
- 3 tablespoons jaggery ( more or less to balance the sourness of fermented batter)
- 1/2 teaspoon methi no masala/gujarati achar masala
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander and cumin seeds powder/dhana jeeru
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup water
- salt to taste
- Tempering
- 3 tablespoons groundnut oil plus more to cook the Handvo
- 1/3 cup raw groundnuts
- 1 generous teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1" stick cinnamon
- 2 cloves
- 2-3 red whole chillies
- 1 spring curry leaves
- a pinch of asafoetida
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds plus more to cook the Handvo
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
In a large steel bowl, add Handvo flour and oil.
Rub the oil to the flour.
Mix in the yogurt and water.
Mix well. Cover and keep the batter for overnight or for 8-10 hours.
After the batter fermented add the grated bottle gourd, grated jaggery, achar masala, turmeric powder, coriander and cumin powder and salt. Add water to loosen the batter and bring it to dash batter like consistency.
Mix well and allow it to stand the for 30 minutes.
In a tempering pan add a little oil, once hot add the groundnuts.
Fry till golden brown.
Once done transfer it to the batter.
In the same pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil, keep the flame low, add whole red chilies, mustard seeds, sesame seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves, curry leaves. Once the mix starts spluttering add the red chili powder and immediately add it to the batter. Be careful to not burn the seeds and chilli powder.
Mix the batter well.
Add the baking soda and mix it in properly.
Take a 9" nonstick pan.
Place it on a very gentle flame.
Add 1/2 to 1 tablespoon oil, sprinkle a teaspoon of sesame seeds. Oil gives Handvo a good crust.
Once the seeds start spluttering, add the batter. Spread and level it well.
Cover and Cook the handvo on one side.
While the handvo is cooking, the cover will steam and seal the top of the handvo making it easy for you to turn in on the other side.
Remember to keep the flame to a medium low.
Once the Handvo becomes nice and brown on one side, it will separate from the pan.
Take a plate or a tava (same or bigger diameter at the pan) apply a little oil. Place it upside down over the handvo pan.
Invert the Handvo pan on the tawa, add some oil and sesame seeds in the hot oil.
Once the sesame seeds splutter, slide the handva from the tawa into the pan and continue to cook it on the other side until it had golden brown crust.
Once done transfer the handva to a wire rack and allow it to cool down a little.
The Handvo tastes better the next day as flavours mature.
Sever with green chutney, Indian or Gujarati pickle and chai.
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