Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Handvo (Baked version)

One thing you can never run short on in Ahmedabad is FOOD - fancy restaurants to roadside carts with some amazing food dished out all thru the day. My favourite is the awesome Gujarati thali, and there are restaurants at every corner serving these thalis. Its convenient, you dont need to order, just sit and a stream of people queue up to serve you in the this really big round thali / plate(my little one can easily sit in it), with a minimum of 7 bowls placed neatly in it.
There is this order in which people come to serve you and each item goes into the designated bowl.
'Farsaan' is a common word for a snack, which could be deep fried like kachori, samosa or somthing like khamman dhokla, sandwich dhokla, and is a integral part of every thali.

Handvo slice

Handvo is a snack which you dont get so easily in these restaurants or the 'Ganthiya' stores. Its more of a regular home made healthy snack.
My friend here had made handvo once, it looked more like a well-done uttapam and was made in a deep pan /kadai
My aunt (whose husband is Gujarati) was visiting and she told me she baked the handvo, it takes lesser oil and tastes much better !

Now that sounded really nice..
I found this 'handva nu loth' / handvo flour at the flour mill close by, and tried the handvo. It turned out so good and was a real healthy snack with a whole lot of vegetables. I've bought a lot more of the flour now and I'm sure this will be made more often at home...The flour is a mixture of various dals made into a coarse powder

Handvo full

What you need -

3 cups handvo flour
(you can blend 1 cup rice, 1/4 cup moong dal, 1/4 cup ural dal, 1/4 cup chana dal and 1/4 cup tur dal into a coarse powder if you cant find any ready handvo flour)

2 cups curd / enough to soak the handvo flour
1 medium sized bottle gourd
2 carrots grated
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1 cup corn kernels
1 tsp ginger-green chilli paste
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
a generous pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp oil

Seasoning

2 tsps oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder

What you do with it -

Soak the handvo flour in curd and mix well. Allow to ferment overnight

Mix the ginger-green chilli paste and turmeric in the fermented batter and mix well
Add the chopped coriander leaves and salt to the batter and keep aside

Peel and grate the bottle gourd and carrot. Squeeze the water from the gourd
Add the gourd, grated carrot and corn kernels to the batter
Heat a tsp of oil and add 1/2 tsp chilli powder in it. when it sizzles, pour it into the batter and mix well

Prepare the seasoning with the mustard seeds, sesame seeds and chilli powder

Preheat the oven to 190 C

Grease a pan with oil or butter and pour the batter into it
Add the baking powder and baking soda in 1/2 tsp oil. Mix and pour into the batter
Mix well, add the seasoning and immediately transfer it to the oven

Bake for about 40 mins at 190 C
Cut into squares or triangles and serve with coriander-mint chutney

17 comments:

SJ said...

I want to see that plate your son can actually sit on!!!!
How many days can u keep this - outside?!
It looks really good! I have never had this, will try it out over the weekend.

Archana said...

@SJ - outside, i am not sure because its got the veggies and curd, but i did keep it in the fridge for a day and put it in pre-heated oven for 5 mins...tasted as good...And the pic of the plate, next time I visit the thali place :)

Anonymous said...

oh!! Thali!! I miss it soooo much!!!! :-(( -Jhongi-

Unknown said...

wow! really good and new to me!thanks for sharing :)

Trupti said...

handvo looks mouthwatering

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

looks so yum!

A_and_N said...

oh wow nice! I'm going to try this too. A would love it, thanks to his love for Gujju food!

Priya Narasimhan said...

too good.
i am a lover of gujarati dish..
bookmarking it..may be will try this weekend itself..

Usha said...

This looks fantastic and I loved that you baked this and with veggies, awesome ! Definitely plan to try this, hopefully my local Indian grocery carries handvo flour :-)

SJ said...

Hey I made ur tomato saar my house smell like my doddama's place in M'lore~ i don't know if making ur saar was a god idea I am home sick now!

It was v good. Thanks!

Varsha Vipins said...

amazing varieties of dishes in Indian cuisine no..This one is yet another new addition to my library..:)..n ur Thali talks made me go abs hungry Arch..:(
hugs

ST said...

Happy ganesh chaturthi to you & your family dear :)
Handvo looks Divine...
Soup 'N Juice Event is going on in my blog.Please do participate in it.

amna said...

i dont know what it is about sesame seeds garnish that totally grabs my attention. this dish is new to me so bookmarked!! :)

Miri said...

Ok, next time you come, I want the handvo flour please!! :)

Anonymous said...

hey ..thanks for the recipe. can you please let me know , so you bake it covered or uncovered ?
thanks

Archana said...

Thanks for all your comments...
@Miri - its reaching u soon :)
@Anon - bake it uncovered...

ns said...

oh i love handvo - definitely going to try making this - we dont get the flour here in bangalore - so do i just grind everything or roast it etc first?

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