Handvo | Haandvo | Indian savory cake....

Haandvo is my all time favorite. After mom would declare that she is making haandvo, i would keep hovering around kitchen, till the Haandvo would be done and i could lay my hand on this crispy, cruncy outside and the soft, soft and yummy, yummy inside delicacy!!!

The best thing about it is that apart from being amazingly tasty, it is also healthy and complete food with cereal, pulses and veggies, food can't get better than this!!!

All my neighbours (at Hyderabad and Noida) who tasted this at my home, loved it. My front door neighbour P learnt to make it from me and now makes her own Haandvo and gets Haandva no lot grinded!!

My mom makes it in 2 ways, one is by baking and another is by making it in a pan. As my mom doesn't own oven, she uses the special "Haandva no dabbo". It's basically like a gas oven, where at the bottom you have a tray filled with sand, then on that you keep the actual utensil with food item inside. This way you got slow and uniform cooking for your Haandvo.  (You can even bake cakes in this!!)

I didn't learn to cook my favorite foods at my mom's place, only when i shifted to hyderabad, i realized that in order to enjoy my favorites i will have to learn to cook them. Haandvo is one those things...

I make Haandvo in a Pan, this kind of haandvo is also known as "Dangeli". You can also bake it in the oven.

And let me warn you, this is very addictive, once you make this, you will always make this :)

Haandvo - made in a pan

Ingredients:

Haandva No Lot - 1 Cup - This is available readymade in Gujarat, But if you are not in Gujarat then get

            yours by mixing

           3 Cups of rice (i used boiled rice),

           1/4 cup of Toor Daal (arahar daal/split pigean pea),

           1/4 cup of Chilkewali mungdaal (Split green gram)

           1/4 cup Chana daal (Split bengal gram)

           1/4 cup Urad Daal (Split black gram)

            generally you mix this well and get it coarsely grinded (like Semolina) by local flour mill to get the

            Hadva no lot. You can store this powder in an air tight container for months. But if you are not in a

            mood to visit local chakkiwala then you can soak all of the mentioned stuff together for 3-4 hours

            and grind to a coarse paste and add 1 teaspoon of Besan. This is my grandmom's secret ratio for

            making it softer inside and crispier outside...

Curd - 1 Tablespoon

Green chili paste- 1/2 teaspoon

Ginger paste - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Salt to taste

Baking soda - 2-3 pinches (If making in the pan, not needed. If baking in the oven then use this)

1 small Lauki/Doodhi/Bottle Gourd (around 300 gms) - washed, peeled and grated
You can also add sugar, but i don't , neither does my mom or grandmom...

For Tadka (Tempering)

Oil - 4 Tablespoon

Mustard seeds/ Rai/Sarson - 3 teaspoon

Sesame seeds/ Til - 3 teaspoon

Ajawain/carom seeds - 3 teaspoon

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Method:

1) Take the Haandva no lot in a bowl, add curd and water. If using the home made wet paste, then also add 1 teaspoon of Besan (Bengal gram flour). Mix well and keep in a warm place for fermentation for 6-7 hours. (In winters i keep it in a pre-heated oven, in summer keeping in a room works just fine)

2) Once it is fermented, add green chili, ginger, salt, turmeric powder, hing and grated bottle gourd. Mix well. Add water if needed, but remember Bottle gourd will also release water, so careful with it. Batter Should be of the consistency of Idli.

3) In a Non-stick pan on low flame, take 3 tablespoon oil in it.

4) Add mustard seeds to it. Once they crackle, add Sesame seeds, carom seeds and Hing.

5) Now, add your Hadvo batter to the pan. Cover it and let it cook on medium flame for 20 minutes or till the bottom is crispy and golden brown in colour. though keep in mind that for different types of pan time may vary.

6) After this, flip the handvo and drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil on the edges.

7) Cook covered for another 15 minutes.

Take it out and enjoy with green Chutney or tomato ketchup!!!

This recipe goes to 1 year blogoversary event of Pallavi's blog.....

Notes:

1) In place of making a single cake, you can make small cakes in smaller kadais (Pans). This way you can eliminate the need of non-stick pan.

Handvo in a Kadai- Do Tadka (Steps 3 & 4)

Haandvo in Kadai - Add the batter after Tadka (Step 5)

Haandvo in Kadai - Flip after one side is cooked (step 6)

2) You can also add other vegetables (like grated Onions, finely Methi, coarsely crushed peas/corn or grated carrots) in Haandvo, in that case reduce the amount of lauki..

3) You can also bake Handvo in oven. For that, add baking soda to the batter and pour it in a (greased and dusted with flour) baking tin. then proceed to the tadka as mentioned in steps 3 & 4. Pour this tadka on the top of batter in the baking tin. Bake in a pre-heated oven. You can get creative with this and bake it like small cup cakes or in different moulds to get fun shapes.

Sending this to Priya's May 2013 edition of Healthy me and Healthy Us event hosted by Jayanthi