Handvo
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A savoury baked cake of fermented rice and lentil batter with bottle gourd, crisp on the outside and soft inside.
Region: GujaratOccasion: Breakfast, tea-time or a light dinnerTime: 1 hr + soaking and fermentingServes: 6Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice
- ¼ cup toor dal
- 2 tbsp chana dal
- 2 tbsp urad dal
- 2 tbsp moong dal
- ½ cup sour curd
- 1 cup grated bottle gourd (dudhi)
- 1 tbsp ginger-green chilli paste
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp turmeric
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp baking soda
- For tempering: 3 tbsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp sesame seeds, a pinch of hing, 8 curry leaves
Method
- Soak the rice and dals together for 5–6 hours. Grind coarsely with the curd and a little water.
- Cover and leave in a warm place for 8–10 hours to ferment.
- Mix in the bottle gourd, ginger-chilli paste, sugar, turmeric and salt. Stir in the soda just before cooking.
- Heat the oil in a heavy non-stick pan. Crackle the mustard and sesame seeds, then add hing and curry leaves.
- Pour in the batter, cover and cook on low heat for 15–18 minutes until the base is golden. Flip and cook the other side for 10 minutes. (It can also be baked at 180 °C for about 45 minutes.)
- Cut into wedges and serve with green chutney or pickle.
History
Handvo was traditionally baked in a special handvo cooker, a pot with a raised centre, over coals. Today it is made in a pan or oven.
Significance
It is a filling one-dish meal made from the rice and pulses every Gujarati kitchen keeps, often cooked for Sunday evening.