Handvo

This again is a gujarati staple. We are in love with this dish. You could eat it as a snack, or in brunch or light dinner. I prefer to make this atleast once every 10-15 days. Because we love Handvo so much. I am also using grated Dhoodhi (lauki, Ghian, bottlegourd), so it covers the "eat your veggies" part. I have tried adding corn, fresh methi leaves and other vegetables to it and it tastes good.

You have to do some prep work before you make this dish.

For preparation:

2 cups of rice (regular long grain rice)
1 cup chana dal

1 cup yogurt

Soak the rice and chana dal separately for good 4-6 hours. Then grind them separately using very little water. Rice should be finely grounded. And chana daal should be coarsely ground.

Then mix them together and add one cup yogurt

and let it ferment overnight.

If it's during winter months, I put the container near the heat vent to let the mixture ferment and, during summer I just let it sit on the kitchen counter to ferment it.

Now for the baking and tempering:

1 small dhoodhi (bottlegourd, lauki), grated.

4 cloves of garlic, crushed, or chopped finely

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp haldi

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp sesame seeds

few curry leaves optional

few cloves and cinnamon optional

1/2 tsp hing

salt to taste

4-6 tbsp oil

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Once the batter is fermented, you can add salt and dhoodhi to the batter and stir well.

Then add the haldi and garlic. Again give it a stir. Now in a small pan heat the oil and add cloves and cinnamon (if using) then add mustard seeds. Once they pop add hing. Turn the heat off and then add curry leaves, chili powder and stir. Add half of the oil mixture to the batter and set the other half aside.

Now grease a pan (you can use any shape of baking pan either glass or metal or non-stick). I prefer to use glass pan as the Handvo doesn't stick to the bottom.

Add the batter to the greased pan and pour the rest of the mixture on top and spread it all over the batter.

Now sprinkle the sesame seeds on top all over and bake the mixture for 30-40 minutes in the oven. And you have a wonderful tea-time snack.

P.S.
For a different dish, I seasoned the batter with the oil and other seasonings and then I make pancakes (adai) out of it for a different feel of the dish and trust me it tastes wonderful.