Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Spinach and Bottle Gourd Handvo


Life is hectic and tiring these days with my 4-month old. The time passes by very fast, which leaves me hardly any time for the blog :((. But when he smiles, all the tiredness, all the fatigue goes away in an instant. Every morning I wake up thinking that today I am going to post at least a new recipe. I even make drafts but cannot fine tune them. Anyways enough with time problems, finally, I have one easy and quick recipe if you plan a little ahead.

Handvo is very popular Gujarati snack. It looks beautiful and tastes great, but basically it is lentil flour cake, which also smells very nice. It is perfect with tea, coffee, or cold drink. It is easy recipe for picnics or long trips. It stays in fridge for around a week. It is usually made with bottle gourd but could be substituted with squash. I used spinach and pigeon peas for a little more flavor. Traditionally, Handva flour is prepared with many types of lentils which are grounded and mixed, but in modern times, it is flour is readily available in Indian stores.

Ingredients:-


  • 3 cups Handvo Flour, store bought
  • 1 Medium Bottle Gourd, grated
  • 2-1/2 cups Chopped Spinach
  • 1/2 cup Pigeon Peas, boiled
  • 3 cups Yogurt
  • 3 tbsp Penuts
  • 1/2 tsp Turmeric
  • 2 tbsp Dhania-Jeera Powder
  • 3 tbsp Green Chili-Ginger paste
  • 2 tsp Red Chili Powder
  • 2 tbsp Sugar
  • 4 tbsp Sesame seeds
  • 1-1/3 tsp Eno Fruit Salt
  • 1-1/2 tbsp Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 cup Water
  • Salt to taste

-- For Tadka

6 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
3-4 Curry Leaves



Method:-

1. In large bowl, mix handvo flour, yogurt, grated bottle gourd and water. Leave overnight to ferment.

2. Add green chili-ginger paste, turmeric, salt, sugar, dhania-jeera powder, penuts, pigeon peas, spinach, red chili powder and 1/4 cup water leave for 2-3 hours.

3. Preheat oven on 375 F.

4. In the mixture, add Eno and then add lemon juice so that it covers the Eno. Let it bubble and mix well lightly clockwise (in one direction).

5. Grease deep baking dish and pour handvo mix. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

6. Heat oil in small pan, add mustard seeds and curry leaves.

7. Give tadka on top. And bake for 40-45 minutes.

8. Serve with tea, coffee, cold drinks, pickle or with any meal as a side dish.

Enjoy...

Tip: Please keep in mind if you have extra water, it will be okay but less water would be bad since handvo will end up dry.

14 comments:

ST said...

Looks very tempting and heavenly:)

Rashmi said...

wow, looks great...

Uma said...

Handvo looks so appetizing Madhavi!! Yum!! Good to see you!!

Unknown said...

Wow healthy handvo!

Unknown said...

I was waiting for dis post madhavi..looks delicious :)

Cham said...

Congrats I didn't know u re a mom :) Handvo looks awesome !

Parita said...

Handvo is one of my favorite, your post reminded me i havent had it in long time, love the flavors in your handvo, sounds delicious and healthy too :-)

Unknown said...

Hi Madhavi. How have u been n how is your kid doing? Recipe looks good n healthy.

Unknown said...

Perfect healthy dish. looks awesome.

Sushma Mallya said...

Never tried making handvo at home,urs look very delicious and healthy too,will give it a try soon and thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a lovely comment..hope to c u again...do keep in touch,take care

Sandhya Hariharan said...

Hi Madhavi.. new in here...
Reached here from a comments thread and glad I found your blog..
Nice n appetizing...

kitchen queen said...

The handvo looks so inviting.Thank u Madhavi for stopping by my blog and giving a comment.You have a nice blog too.You can visit my blog whenever u can and give ur valuable comments.

Finla said...

Looks so good and healthy too.

kitchen queen said...

lovely handvo.looks very spongy and tempting to have a quick grab.