In recent years there seems to be a rising interest among Indian bakers, towards gluten free foods and bakes. And while we scour the internet and experiment with various flours, one of our very own age old recipes chuckles quietly in the corner, wondering what the fuss is all about.

Yes the Handvo which is a popular Gujarati savory rice and lentil cake of sorts, has been delighting both gluten tolerant and intolerant people alike over the ages and as an added bonus, is high in protein, incorporates vegetables of choice and is a whole meal unto itself. And yes it can be made sugar free and is veganisable, clearly ticking most of the boxes that people want to tick in these times. Really, why would anyone need to look any further?

And though this analogy may seem far fetched, I do feel like likening this to the couplet by the famous saint and poet Kabir, which says that the musk deer goes hither and thither in search of the fragrance that it smells, while all the while failing to realize that it is emanating from its own glands.

Ok let us save the philosophical lecture for another day and focus now on the recipe because though it is a pretty straightforward process, there are many ingredients to put together and I will need you to give me your full attention.

But first say hi to the dish that you are going to create today.

Handvo –

As I mentioned, handvo is a melange of several ingredients mainly consisting of rice and a host of lentils ground together into a thick coarse batter. Joining this party, are several grated vegetables and of course various seasonings. This mixture is then baked in an oven or even cooked in a pan on the stove top and the end product resembles a nicely browned crusty cake or a thick pancake respectively.

The traditional vegetable used is the Lauki which is Bottle gourd, which is a very versatile and healthy vegetable that lends itself to many savory as well as sweet dishes in Indian cooking. Though the lauki is very familiar to me, my recent trip to Gujarat made me discover that there was much more that it could do and there is a range of traditional recipes that involve it in innovative ways. Hopefully some of them will make an appearance on this blog in future. Of course one non traditional one has already been tried  in the form of … hold your breath, Lauki Sourdough Crackers. What say 😎 (you will see it shortly on the blog)

Ok let us not digress and take the spotlight away from our present star of the show.

Process for Handvo –

As mentioned, the process is simple enough and does not require special skills but does involve a bit of time and quite a number of components. Even so, most of that time is passive time and the ingredients are those which are easily available in an average Indian kitchen.

The entire dish would take around 17 – 18 hours only because of soaking and fermenting time. The actual cooking/baking is less than an hour.

Basically a certain proportion of rice and mixed lentils are soaked for a few hours and then ground and allowed to ferment like idli or dosa batter. Spices, flavors, herbs and vegetables are then added along with a leavening agent and the resultant concoction is cooked on a pan or baked in an oven.

The recipe is quite forgiving and many variations can be made in terms of ratios, flavors etc. While hunting for a suitable recipe, I took the help of friends and the internet and eventually came up with proportions and ingredients that appealed to me and worked for me. I have experimented with this recipe many times and what I am going to document here, is what I am sticking to for now. But as I said, you can feel free to alter it to your convenience and taste. The recipe can handle quite a lot of upheaval 😀

Recipe for Handvo –

Ingredients –

For soaking –

Rice – 1 cup (regular raw rice/table rice)

Urad dal – 1/2 cup (black gram lentil)

Channa dal – 1/4 cup (

Tur dal – 1/8 cup

Mung dal – 1/8 cup

Methi – 1/2 teaspoon

For grinding –

The above soaked ingredients

Curd – 1/2 cup

To add to the batter –

Haldi (turmeric) – 1/2 tsp,

Green chillies – 3 (or to taste)

Ginger – 1/2 inch

Garlic – 5 cloves

Curry leaves – 10

Lauki (bottle gourd) grated and squeezed – 1 cup. See Notes

(reserve the resultant juice to use if needed)

Coriander leaves – 1/4 cup finely chopped

Raw Sugar – 2 teaspoon (or any sugar). See notes

Salt – 1 teaspoon

Oil – 1/4 cup oil

Hing (asafoetida) – 1/8 teaspoon (one big pinch)

Before baking –

Lime juice – 1 tablespoon

Baking soda – 1/2 teaspoon

Topping – 

White Sesame seeds (Til) – 1 – 2 tablespoon

Curry leaves – for garnish

Method –

Put the ingredients to be soaked into a bowl and wash well till clean.

Soak in sufficient water overnight or at least for 5 hours.

Grind coarsely with 1/2 cup curd.

Allow to ferment in a warm place. Depending on ambient conditions, it should take anywhere between 5 – 8 hours. The batter did not rise significantly for me. Nevertheless, I proceeded with the next step after 8 hours.

Grind the green chillies, ginger, garlic and curry leaves and add this to the batter along with haldi, salt, grated lauki, coriander leaves and sugar.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the hing and switch off the heat. When cool, add this to the batter.

Prepare a 7 x 7 inch square tin by greasing sides and lining base with parchment. You can also line the sides if you wish.

You can use any shape of tin. I use an Aluminum cake pan.

Preheat the oven to maximum temperature (mine is 230 deg c)

Add the lime juice and soda to the batter and mix quickly and thoroughly. The mixture should be of dropping consistency, somewhat like a thickish cake batter. You can add some of the reserved lauki water if needed.

Pour the batter into the tin (I kept aside around 1/2 cup batter to cook in the wok)

Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top. You can add a few curry leaves for aesthetics too.

Place the pan in the oven and turn down the temperature to 180 deg c.

Bake for 40 minutes or till you get a nice brown crust. I usually turn up the temperature when it is nearly done, so as to get the browning on the surface. Please note however, that timings and temperature are highly dependent on individual ovens, hence work accordingly.

A knife pierced through the handvo, should come out relatively clean, indicating that it is fully baked.

An alternate way of cooking the handvo is to heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok and add 1/2 teaspoon of sesame seeds.

Then pour around 2 ladles (approximately 100 ml of batter) into the pan. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or till the underside is brown and the top looks set. Then flip over and cover an cook for another 5 minutes or until it is cooked through.

I cooked smaller quantities at a time but one can also take a very large wok and cook as large a handvo as they wish. Just adjust the oil and sesame and time accordingly.

Notes –

You can use grated carrots, cabbage, beet or anything of choice.

Sugar is optional and you can avoid it.

The proportions of the rice and lentil can be altered as per personal choice. I use a bit more of the urad (black gram) because that is more conducive to fermenting.

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I hope you will successfully try this recipe and I would really appreciate if you leave your feedback in the Blog comments.

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