Handvo with green peas

I was exposed to Gujarathi cuisine when I was in my graduate school. I have a friend who is a Gujarathi whose place I used to visit often. Her mom who is no more was an excellent cook who never got tired of cooking a lot of dishes all the time. I ate Handvo in their house for the first time and fell in love with it. I did learn how to make it too.
For those who do not know what Handvo is it is basically a rice and lentil cake baked in the oven with spices and vegetables mainly like Doodhi (bottle gourd), zucchini and sometimes methi. My friend's mom did make handvo with corn kernels once and that is what inspired me to try it with green peas. You could soak rice and dal and grind and let it ferment, but I used the handvo flour you get in Indian store and fermented that. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:

1. Handvo flour - 2 cups
2. Yogurt - 1 cup
3. Salt - to taste
4. Turmeric - a pinch
5. Oil - 4 - 5 TBSP divided use
6. Green chillies - 6 (Vary according to your taste)
7. Ginger - 1/4 inch piece grated
8. Green peas - 1 cup microwaved for couple of minutes to make them tender.
9. Baking soda - 2 big pinches (My friend's mom used Eno fruit salt and I didn't have any)
10. Cilanthro - chopped about 1/4 cup
11. Hing - a big pinch
12. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
13. White sesame seeds - 1 tsp
14. Curry leaves - a few
    

Method:
Mix the Handvo flour with a little bit of salt and yogurt and let it ferment 10 - 12 hours. Add more water if needed to make it a idly, dosa batter consistency. After they are fermented, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a pan with vegetable oil spray (I used a 7 X 11 glass dish). Mince ginger and green chillies. Add it to the batter. Add cilanthro, green peas, baking soda, turmeric and 2 TBSP of oil and mix the batter. Heat the remaining 3 TBSP of oil in a pan. When hot add, mustard and when the splutter, add curry leaves and white sesame seeds. Turn off the heat. Check for the salt in the batter and add if necessary. Pour the batter to the prepared pan. Pour the tadka/ Oggarane mix on the top of the pan evenly. I did not use too many sesame seeds. Traditionally, they use lot of oil and lot of sesame seeds and cover the entire pan with the mixture. Do what you like the best. Bake in the oven till the top is golden and edges and sides have a brown tint. Check with the toothpick at the center and it should come clean. Some people bake it for a long time to get very brown crust which I personally don't like. I feel it makes it hard and chewy. I baked mine for 35 minutes. Let it cool and cut into pieces. Serve with chutney or tea or coffee. I forgot to take a picture before slicing the Handvo. Here is another picture in the pan with slice marks.

You can experiment with other vegetables too. It is similar to corn bread but with spices and vegetables.

Happy Baking!! Pin It