Handvo

I remember this Gujarati specialty from my childhood - my mother used to make it when we were growing up. I guess it was a good way to feed us lauki (or any other vegetable in THAT category) without a full-scale rebellion on her hands. I remember thinking it was some sort of an exotic, savoury cake because of its consistency. Recently, I was looking around for a good recipe for Sunday morning breakfast and chanced upon this one. What I hadn't realized was how time-consuming it is. Well, I guess you need to slog a little for something so delicious.

Ingredients:

2 cups of rice
1 cup of toor/arhar dal (pigeon pea)
1/4 cup of green moong dal (split green gram)
1/4 cup of urad dal (split black gram)
1/4 cup of chana dal (gram)
1/2 cup of yogurt, slightly sour
3 tbsp ginger-chilli paste
Salt to taste
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
8-10 curry leaves
1/4 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)
1 pinch hing (asafoetida)
1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
1 tsp rai (mustard seeds)
1 1/2 cups of grated lauki (bottle gourd)

Method:

1. Mix rice and all the dals. Wash and soak them overnight in warm water.
2. In the morning, remove excess water and grind into a paste.
3. Add the yogurt and keep aside for another few (8-9) hours.
4. Add ginger-chilli paste, salt, lime juice, baking soda, turmeric powder, lauki and the oil. Mix well.
5. Grease the baking tray and pour the mixture into it.
6. Heat oil in a kadhai. Add curry leaves, ajwain, hing, rai and jeera.
7. Pour over the batter in the baking tray.
8. Heat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Serve it with sweet-and-sour imli (tamarind) chutney and some green chutney. Its yummy!