-
Prep time
10 hours
-
Cook time
2 hours
-
Serves
12
Author Notes
The first recipe Dadi taught me was for Handvo, baked savory lentil cakes from a region in Gujarat called Kathiyavad. Don’t let the word “baked” fool you: this fragrant Indian style cornbread (sans the corn) is not low fat. But a slice of Handvo is stunningly savory and worth the time and effort it takes to make it. Handvo’s flour, made from coarsely ground lentils and rice, forms a rustic base, which when combined with the buttery shredded squash and milky coconut, brings a homey, country feeling to your belly. Green chilis and ginger work together to form a sharp, aromatic paste that, when mixed into the batter with the sugar, transforms into a calm, fresh flavor in the cooked slices. And sizzling white sesame seeds encrusted in the top and bottom add a nutty crispiness to the outer edges of this soft, savory cake. —janki
Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
-
3 cups
shredded squash/gourd/cabbage. We used 1 medium “dhoodhi / loki” or Indian gourd, but we’ve used squash and cabbage before. Your vegetable of choice should yield about 3 cups of shredded material.
-
3 cups
handvo flour (a coarse flour made of ground mixed lentils and rice). You can find prepackaged handvo flour (NOT Instant Handvo Mix) at your local Indian grocery store by asking for handvo loht (flour) or handvo daro (coarsely ground flour.)
-
1
32-oz. container plain, preferably sour, yogurt
-
8 tablespoons
sugar
-
salt, to taste
-
2 tablespoons
ginger chili paste. We blended 2 inches of ginger and 8 small chilies into a paste; you can vary the number of chilies depending on how spicy you like your food. 6 chilies to two inches of ginger yields a mildly spicy paste.
-
.5-1 teaspoons
turmeric
-
3 tablespoons
chopped cilantro
-
1.5 tablespoons
crushed garlic
-
4 teaspoons
kashmiri red chili powder
-
2 handfuls
plus 1 Tbsp. white sesame seeds
-
juice from one lime
-
1 cup
shredded (unsweetened) coconut (can buy frozen)
-
1 cup
plus 1 tsp. peanut oil (or, safflower or vegetable oil)
-
1 teaspoon
(heaped) black mustard seeds
-
1 handful
curry leaves
-
1/2 teaspoon
baking soda
-
1 teaspoon
(level) baking powder
-
3/4 teaspoon
asafetida
Directions
-
Mix 3 cups handvo flour with the yogurt in a large steel bowl; leave out overnight to ferment.
-
The next morning, sprinkle batter liberally with salt to taste and add the sugar and asafetida. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-
Sprinkle shredded squash (or cabbage, or gourd) with salt and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Squeeze out excess water from vegetable and mix into the batter.
-
Add 2 tbsp. of the ginger-chili paste to batter and stir. Add ½ tsp. of turmeric. Batter should become a banana yellow color. Add the chopped cilantro and crushed garlic to batter, stir.
-
Set ½ cup of peanut oil in a small pot over low heat. When oil is slightly warm, add the red chili powder. Swirl pot to mix the oil and chili, about 10 seconds, and then stir into batter.
-
Liberally grease a 15 x 10 glass dish (or two smaller dishes) with oil, and sprinkle the bottom of the pan with a handful of white sesame seeds
-
Mix the shredded coconut into batter, and then add ¼ tsp. asafetida and juice from ½ a lime.
-
Taste the batter. Adjust it for salt/sugar levels to taste.
-
In a small pot, heat 1/2 cup oil. When hot, add 2 heaped tsp. mustard seeds, ½ tsp of asafetida, handful of curry leaves, and 1 tbsp of sesame. Wait until mustard seeds start to pop (so they release their flavors). Set aside.
-
In another small pot, add 1 tsp. of oil, baking soda, baking powder, and juice from ½ lime. As soon as the mixture starts bubbling, stir it into the batter and quickly pour batter into greased pan. Spoon the heated oil-spice mixture on top and put in the preheated oven.
-
Cook handvo on 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Handvo should rise and cracks should appear on surface. Handvo should be a toasty golden yellow in color. Serve with chutney.
See what other Food52ers are saying.