Kharbuja Panaka | Muskmelon Sherbat

Kharbuja Panaka is a muskmelon based beverage that is traditionally served during the festival of Ram Navami in South India.

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Night Fury completes one year on Sunday, well, at least as per the Hindu calendar. Yay!!

Sunday, the 14th is Ram Navami. And Night Fury isn’t our dragon, although Raj almost drives it as if it is, instead it is our car. When we bought it, we thought hard on what we should name it. Did you know there are websites out there that suggest names for your car based on color, type etc. They weren’t much help though. But after one hard look at the front grille of the car, and we both thought it looked like “Toothless” smiling. If you are totally lost right now, then all my references to night fury, toothless and dragons is from the movie “How to train your dragon”. It is a very good animated movie, and you should watch it.

So now there are 2 reasons to celebrate the day, one of course cause it is Ram Navami, a festival, and second it is also birthday number 1.

Ram Navami has always been a festival that invokes mixed feelings in me. As children, my mom took/dragged us to her family temple near Mangalore as Ram Navami is celebrated with a lot of grandeur there. While the festivities were nice and grand, what killed me there was the heat. April to me marks the beginning of Summer and Summer and the tropics don’t really work well together. While the tropics are always warm, Summer can literally roast you. And with Mangalore being on the coast, the humidity is very high too. So I was always sweating buckets and rushing to hydrate myself.

The good thing was that any Ram Navami celebration always has cooling drinks being served. You are bound to find either Panaka or Majjige (buttermilk) being served to keep everyone hydrated. Last year I posted the recipe for a simple Panaka. Today I'm sharing another version - Kharbuja Panaka or Muskmelon Sherbat. To make the Kharbuja Panaka, muskmelon or cantaloupe is juiced and cardamom, lime juice, pepper and jaggery are added for flavor. Chill it and serve it along with some diced muskmelon.

If you are in the mood, you can also make this Bele Holige, that is traditionally made for all festivals in South India.

Happy Ram Navami!!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

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Kharbuja Panaka | Muskmelon Sherbat

Kharbuja Panaka is a muskmelon based beverage that is traditionally served during the festival of Ram Navami in South India.

Recipe Type:  Beverage
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     0 minutes
Total time:     10 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped Muskmelon
0.5 Lime
2 Green Cardamom
0.25 tsp Pepper, freshly crushed
2 cups Water
Jaggery to taste
Muskmelon pieces for garnish
Ice cubes as required

Method:

1. Blend the chopped muskmelon along with lime juice, 0.5 cup water, pepper and jaggery until smooth.
2. Start by adding 2-3 tsp of jaggery and increase as per the desired sweetness.
3. Peel the cardamom and crush the seeds into a fine powder.
4. Add the cardamom, remaining water and ice cubes to the blender and give it a quick whizz.
5. Serve it chilled. Top with muskmelon pieces before serving.

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Panaka

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Bele Holige Recipe | Obbattu Recipe | Puran Poli Recipe [Video]

Bele Holige (Obbattu or Puran Poli) is a traditional Indian flatbread that is stuffed with a sweet lentil stuffing and pan fried in ghee. Popularly made for weddings and festivals.

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I confess, I have a sweet tooth. From the first drop of honey that I tasted as a baby, I’ve had that weakness for sweets.

Time has proven, that my weakness for sweets is much stronger than my will power to ignore them. So instead of fighting a losing battle, I’ve given up and let myself enjoy them. After all, there is so much chaos and bitterness everywhere, at least my stomach can be full of sweetness.

Of all the sweets I know, Holige has always been the crown jewel. You know how cakes are synonymous with weddings in the West, to a Kannadiga (people of the state of Karnataka), a holige holds the same place. When you are unmarried, a lot of the older folks in the family will inevitably ask you when you will treat them to a feast with Holige, which is nothing, but a nice way of asking you the nosy question of when will you get married. I know this from experience *rolling eyes*.

So when we were planning our wedding menu and Raj declared he hates Holige, for a fleeting moment I wondered if he was the guy for me. Here I was in love with Holige, the quintessential wedding dessert and here was my man questioning its presence it our wedding. (May be he was jealous that I’ve loved it longer, who knows?). But my mom settled it by having 2 desserts, one that he liked and one that I liked. Wise woman. And both of us were happy.

Now, the Holige is not a very difficult dessert to make if you follow your instincts, but until recently, it was something that had to be made at home. No sweet shop ever stocked it, and even if they did, it was never as good as the homemade ones. But recently, I’ve seen a lot of holige shops spring up around the city and they make some really good ones there. You will know how fond people are of Holige by just looking at the crowd at these stores.

But we still love to make our own, because it is so easy and so delicious. A Holige is made of 2 components – the dough and the stuffing (also called hurna or puran). The dough can either be of only whole wheat flour (atta) or of only all purpose flour(maida) or a mix of the two. I’ve found that only whole wheat flour makes it slightly tougher in texture and only all purpose flour makes it chewier. The mix of flours works best for me. The stuffing is what gives flavor to the holige. Holige can be stuffed with a variety of things – lentils/dal, coconut, peanuts, and for the adventurous, there are dry fruits, dates and carrots too. While I love all varieties, this recipe is all about the lentil/dal or bele one. Chana Dal works best for Bele Holige.

To make the stuffing, chana dal is boiled, drained and pureed with very little water until smooth and then cooked with jaggery until it forms a thick paste. This is flavored with cardamom for the minimalist, while you can add other spices like dry ginger powder or fennel seeds powder etc. Getting the consistency of the stuffing right is what all the fuss is about in making the holige. Like I said before, follow your instincts, and you won’t falter. You should be able to take the stuffing in your hands (once cool) and shape it into a ball that holds its shape. If it sticks to your hands or doesn’t hold its shape, it needs to thicken further. Put it back on the heat and allow it to thicken. If the stuffing powders in your hands, add a little water or milk and make it thinner.

Once you have the right stuffing, the holige is very easy to make. Holige is traditionally pan fried with a lot of ghee, but to make it vegan, use vegetable oil. I’ve made it with oil too and it doesn’t affect the texture.

Holige tastes best when served warm, with lots of ghee or milk.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo @oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

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Video Recipe

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Bele Holige Recipe | Obbattu Recipe | Puran Poli Recipe

Bele Holige (Obbattu or Puran Poli) is a traditional Indian flatbread that is stuffed with a sweet lentil stuffing and pan fried in ghee. Popularly made for weddings and festivals.

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     45 minutes
Cook time:     45 minutes
Total time:     90 minutes
Yield:                Makes 10 to 12 medium Holige

Ingredients:

For the Stuffing (Hurna / Puran)

1 cup Chana Dal
1.5 cups Jaggery Powder
1 tsp Cardamom Powder

For the Dough:

2 cups Wholewheat Flour
1 cup All Purpose Flour
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
0.25 tsp Salt
Water as required

Ghee or Oil to fry

Method:

To make the Stuffing:

1. Wash the chana dal twice in water and then soak and leave aside for 30 minutes.
2. Pressure cook the chana dal with 2-3 cups of water until it is cooked. It may take 4-5 whistles or 8-10 minutes after the pressure builds up. If not using a pressure cooker, cook the chana dal in a covered pan until completely cooked.
3. Drain the chana dal and allow it to cool.
4. Once cool, blend it into a smooth paste. Use as little water as possible.
5. Heat a non stick kadhai and add the chana dal paste to it. If you are not using a non stick kadhai, add a little ghee first and then add the chana dal paste.
6. Add in the jaggery powder and mix well. If you want a mildly sweet holige, add only 1 cup of the jaggery powder. You can taste the stuffing and add more if required.
7. Continue cooking the stuffing on low heat while stirring frequently until the stuffing thickens. It may take 15-20 minutes.
8. Add in the cardamom powder and mix well. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
9. If the stuffing feels thin in consistency after cooling, add it back to a kadhai and heat it again until it reaches the desired consistency.
10. While the stuffing cools, make the dough for the holige.

To make the Dough:

11. To make the dough, take the wholewheat flour and all purpose flour in a large bowl. Add in the turmeric powder and salt.
12. Knead it to a smooth dough with water. Add water as required.
13. Cover the dough and rest for 30 minutes.

To make the Holige:

14. To make the holige, take a lime sized ball of dough and roll it out into a small disc on a flour dusted surface.
15. Take a lime sized ball of stuffing and place it on the rolled out dough.
16. Seal the edges and roll out the holige as thin as possible. Dust the holige with flour as required.
17. Heat a tava and grease it with ghee or oil. Place the holige on it.
18. Spoon ghee or oil on the other side of the holige.
19. Cook the holige on medium to high heat until both the sides are cooked.
20. Remove from heat and serve with ghee or milk.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Shankarpole

Kadle Bele Payasa

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Traditional Chakli Recipe | How to make Chakli [Video]

Chakli is a deep fried savory Indian snack that is popularly made for Diwali. Chakli is a spiral snack made from rice and black lentil (urad dal) flour and can be enjoyed in a gluten free diet. This recipe will show to how to make chakli from scratch along with a video tutorial.

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Soooo.... this post comes almost a month later than what it should have been posted. I had planned to post this Chakli recipe before Diwali, so you guys could try it for Diwali. But I totally missed it. I thought of waiting for next year to post it, but then who has the patience to wait another year. And I figured out, you don't need Diwali around to make Chakli, you can make it anytime you like. With cold weather coming our way, the demand for deep fried goodness is only going to go up. So here's the recipe for the crispy crunchy Chakli.

There are several variations of the Chakli - Palak Chakli, Butter Chakli and what my friend told me recently, there's even an Jalapeno Chakli out there. But this is the recipe for the traditional chakli.

Some background.

It’s been years that I have been planning to cook snacks and sweets for Diwali and restart our old tradition of visiting friends and family and sharing those delicacies with them. But for the last 2 years, I’ve been out of country for Diwali (visiting Bali and Cambodia). So while I made elaborate plans on what to cook and how to box them, it never materialized. But this Diwali was different, I was in country and better yet, I was in Goa. Gee and I split up the dishes and managed to put up two savory and two sweets on the plate. It was such a delight!

I had several ideas for the savory snack and while I had Chakli at the back of my mind, Gee picked it too. Chakli was what my mom made every Diwali when we were little and gave it to everyone in the apartment complex. And this year, I restarted that tradition.

I made Chakli several times in the last one month, I made trial batches and I made more batches for distributing. With all the Chakli making so fresh in my mind, I'm at my best to give you all the tips and tricks required to make the perfect Chakli. There are several small things that impact how your Chakli turns out, and I have included it in the Notes section at the bottom of the recipe. Who knew, that things like humidity and temperature could affect your Chakli?

There are different varieties of Chakli Press available in the market, you can buy:

• Stainless Steel Ones -  
• Brass ones -             
• Wooden ones  from local markets.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Traditional Chakli Recipe

Chakli is a savory deep fried Indian snack that is popularly made for Diwali. Chakli is a crispy spiral snack made from rice and lentil flour. It is a spicy crunchy vegetarian snack.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     10 hours
Cook time:     60 minutes
Total time:     10 hours 40 minutes
Yield:                80-90

Ingredients:

3 cups or 570 gms raw Rice
1 cup or 190 gms Urad Dal
0.75 cup or 75 gms Ghee
0.5 cup Oil
5 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Asafoetida (Hing) (Use gluten free hing to suit a gluten free diet)
2-4 tsp Salt
3-4 cups Water
Oil to fry
Water as required

Method:

To make the Chakli Flour:

1. Wash and drain the rice. Spread it on a dry muslin cloth in a single layer to dry overnight or for 8-10 hours.
2. Once the rice is dry, dry roast it in a kadhai until all the moisture evaporates and the rice turns bright white. Roast on low flame by stirring occassionally. Do not allow the rice to change color or burn. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
3. Dry roast the urad dal on low heat until it turns pinkish-brown. The dal will turn fragrant once roasted well. Stir occassionally and do not allow the dal to burn. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. Once the rice and urad dal have cooled, grind it into a smooth powder in batches. You can either do this at home in a mixer or get it powdered at a mill.
5. Sieve the flour to remove any unpowdered rice or dal.
6. With the quantities used in this recipe, you should get around 750-760gms of chakli flour.

To make the Chakli:

7. Grind 3 tsp of cumin seeds into a coarse powder. Alternately you can use roasted cumin powder.
8. Add the cumin seed powder to the chakli flour.
9. Next add in the red chilli powder, remaining cumin seeds, hing and 2 tsp of salt and mix it roughly. Hing or asafoetida may contain wheat and hence avoid it if making a gluten free version.
10. Add in melted ghee and rub it in the flour.
11. Add hot oil by the spoonfuls and rub it in the flour. Squeeze a bit of the flour in your palms, if it holds the shape, you can stop adding oil. If it crumbles away, add more oil and mix.
12. Once you have added all the oil, add in water slowly and start kneading until you have a smooth dough. Adjust seasoning or spices as you continue to knead.
13. Once you have a smooth dough, cover with a wet cloth and keep aside.
14. Grease the chakli press well.
15. Take a ball of dough and stuff it in the chakli press.
16. Press out the chaklis onto a smooth plastic sheet.
17. Heat oil in a kadhai for deep frying. Add a small piece of flour to test the oil. If the piece floats up, the oil is hot enough.
18. Once the oil is hot, carefully pick up the chakli and add it to the oil. Fry in batches and do not crowd the kadhai.
19. Once you have added the first batch of chaklis, lower the heat to a minimum and allow to cook for 4-5 minutes. Depending on the quantity of oil you have in the kadhai and the stove settings, you may require more or less time than what is mentioned. Try a test batch first to get the time and temperature of the stove correct. See notes for more tips.
20. Remove from oil and place it onto a absorbent kitchen towel to cool.
21. Once cool, store in an airtight box.
22. Serve at room temperature with tea.

Notes:

1. To make the chakli gluten free, do not add hing or asafoetida.
2. To make the chakli vegan, you can replace ghee with oil.
3. To make the chakli richer tasting, the oil can be replaced with ghee or butter. Butter can also be used in place of ghee or oil completely.
4. If you are making chakli for the first time, it is better to make the dough in small batches, so that you can correct the next batch if required. Humidity and temperature in your house may change the amount of ghee/oil required in your recipe, a trial batch will help get that quantity right.
5. If the chaklis start breaking when you try to shape them, then add more water to the dough and try again. The water can be added to small batches of dough as you go along.
6. If the chaklis start breaking in the oil while frying, that means the amount of ghee or oil added to the dough is more than required. Add it a little dry flour and knead again.
7. The chakli flour can be stored for 1-2 months in a dry airtight container.
8. The chakli dough cannot be stored and it is recommended to make chakli with fresh dough.
9. Cooking the chakli is the trickiest part, make sure the oil is hot when you drop in the chaklis, after that set the stove to sim or minimum heat. Cook on a low temperature until crispy. The high temperature gives color to the chakli while the low temperature cooks it all the way through making it crispy. It is recommended to make a few trial batches so that you get the temperature and time required in your environment.
10. Allow the chaklis to cool completely before storing, else they may get soft.

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Shankarpole

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Soy Milk Recipe | How to make Soya Milk from Soya Beans [Video Recipe]

Make your own vegan Soya milk from scratch using dried soya beans!

I'll be honest, I'm not a vegan and even less of a milk drinker, but even I love the idea of making my own Soy Milk. 

Last year, Gee decided to try out veganism for a short while, and she kept buying these little cartons of Soy milk to add to her tea. Almost every soy milk out there is flavored for direct consumption and we had to look high and low for a plain natural one with no flavors. While we did find them eventually, they still had stabilizers to increase the shelf life of the soy milk. And that got me searching for recipes to make soy milk at home, so she wouldn't need to consume all those chemicals. That is when I first made Soy milk. 

I am a cook-from-scratch kind of person, and I like knowing all the ingredients that go into my food. It also gives me a lot of perspective on the effort that it takes to make a certain item that I may have not even a fleeting thought to before. And add to that making Soy Milk is so easy. If you are lactose intolerant or vegan and use Soy Milk regularly, then I highly recommend making it at home.

Why you should make your own Soy Milk:

• It is additive free. 
• It is so much cheaper. Oh yes, the Soy Beans cost me Rs.16 for 200gms and it yielded one liter of Soy Milk. That is actually much cheaper than the regular cow's milk I buy. 
• You can flavor it how you like it
• You can keep it sugar free or add sugar depending on your liking
• It is FRESH...

You can use this Soy milk in your coffee, in your cereal and for baking vegan dishes. It can be used to make Tofu too. I will be posting the recipe to make Tofu very soon, watch out for it. You can store this Soy milk in the fridge, however, I suggest consuming it within 2-3 days.  

Be warned, homemade fresh Soy Milk has a strong smell of soy unlike the packaged soy milk. You can add a teensy bit of vanilla to the milk if you find the smell overpowering. 

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto. 

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Soy Milk Recipe

How to make Soy Milk from Soy Beans. Vegan milk. Recipe to make soya milk from scratch.

Recipe Type:  Beverage
Cuisine:            Asian
Prep Time:     8 hours
Cook time:     30 minutes
Total time:     9 hours
Yield:                1 liter

Ingredients:

1 cup dried Soya Beans (200 gms)
10 cups Water

Method:

1. Soak the soya beans in 4 cups of water for 8 hours.
2. Drain out the water after 8 hours.
3. Add the soya beans to a blender with 2 cups of water and blend to a smooth paste.
4. Boil 4 cups or 500 ml of water in a large pot.
5. Add the soya bean paste to the water and allow it to come to a boil.
6. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
7. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon in between. Keep an eye on the pot, because soy milk has a tendency to overflow.
8. After 10 minutes, remove the pot from heat and strain using a juice strainer or a muslin cloth.
9. Store in a clean vessel in the fridge for 2-3 days.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Homemade Creamy Yogurt

Vegan Thai Green Curry

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MIL's Spicy Tomato Curry with fried Bhindi (Okra) [Video]

Spicy Tomato Curry with fried Bhindi / Okra recipe with video instructions. Spicy Tomato Curry is a quick vegan tomato soup that is served with pan fried okra. Spicy Tomato Curry is vegan, gluten free and fits a Jain diet.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

They say winter is over. While I love the promise of sunshine all through the day, I miss the chill in the air. Luckily, it is still chilly in the morning, so I'm enjoying the last few days with my jacket until it is stacked in the cupboard for the next 6-7 months until the monsoons bring on some more chill.

Winter may be over, and warm nights back on the calendar, but hey, that really does not stop me from enjoying hot meals. And speaking of hot meals, especially my Mother-in-law's Spicy Tomato Curry. This curry is perfect for winter nights or rainy nights when all you want is a bowl of spicy sour soul warming goodness. But don't let the weather stop you from enjoying something this delicious. Unless you live on the coast in a tropical country in the Northern Hemisphere, you still have a few days of cold nights left, use it to enjoy this Tomato Curry.

While the name suggests curry, this is really a spicy Tomato Soup flavored with cumin, thickened with chickpea flour (gram flour/ besan) and garnished with fried okra (bhindi). Isn't fried okra the BEST? Crispy crunchy salty and we can always pretend it is healthy, after all it is a vegetable. If I haven't convinced you to fry that okra, you can just as well be a health freak and grill it up until it is nice and charred. My mother in law sometimes adds boiled potato cubes to the curry as well, but okra is the family favorite.

This is probably the quickest and absolutely no fuss soup I know to prepare. So no fine chopping, no 100 ingredients, no exotic spices (unless you consider cumin exotic), no hours and hours of simmering. NADA!!! Just 3 main ingredients and barely 40 minutes to prepare. No chopping, just blending.

Making this curry is super simple. I pressure cook the tomatoes whole for 8-10 minutes or 1-2 whistles. Then allow them to cool a little, before peeling them and blending. Meanwhile, fry up your chopped okra or boil the potatoes. Heat oil in a kadhai or pot and add cumin seeds. When they brown, add in the gram flour and saute it well for 1 minute. Then add in the blended tomatoes. Add water if required. Season with salt and red chilli powder and allow it to simmer for 5-8 minutes. If it is too thin, add more gram flour. If it is too thick add water. Too sweet, then add a little tamarind juice or lime juice. Too sour, then you can sweeten it with sugar or jaggery. Just TRUST your taste buds more than anything. I like my curry hot, sour with full flavor of cumin. Add the fried okra or potato just before serving.

Serve it with some crusty bread and dinner is done! You can also serve it with rice, though then I'd recommend you keep it thick.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto. 

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life is there on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email (How convenient!!)

Video Recipe

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Spicy Tomato Curry

Spicy and easy Tomato Curry or Soup made with fresh tomatoes, thickened with gram flour and garnished with crispy fried okra.

Recipe Type:  Soup
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     40 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

5-6 large Tomatoes
6 tsp Oil
1 Tbsp Gram Flour (Chickpea Flour / Besan)
1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
15-20 small Okra (Bhindi)
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder (Optional)
A handful of Curry leaves
Red Chilli Powder to taste
Salt to taste
Water as required

Method:

1. Pressure cook the tomatoes with 1 cup of water for 1-2 whistles or 8-10 minutes. If cooking in a pan, cook the tomatoes until they are soft. Reserve the water.
2. Peel the tomatoes and leave aside to cool.
3. Chop the end of the okra.
4. Heat 3 tsp oil in a small pan and fry the okra until they are slightly browned and crispy. Keep flipping the okra so that they cook evenly.
5. Once the tomatoes have cooled, blend into a puree with 1 cup of reserved water.
6. Once the tomatoes have cooled, blend into a puree.
7. Heat 3 tsp Oil in a large pan or pot and add the cumin seeds and curry leaves.
8. Once they brown slightly, add the gram flour and saute for 1 minute until the raw smell disappears.
9. Add turmeric powder and red chilli powder.
10. Pour in the blended tomatoes and 1 cup of water. Add salt to taste.
11. Let it come to a boil and then simmer for 5-8 minutes.
12. If the consistency is too thick, add more water. If it is too thin, add a 1 Tbsp gram flour mixed in water.
13. If the curry is too sour, add a little sugar. If the curry is not sour enough add a little tamarind juice or lime juice.
14. Add the crispy okra just before serving.
15. Serve hot with crusty bread or rice.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Corn Tomato Bharta

Tomato Saar

Tomato Gazpacho

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Mixed Dal Handvo Recipe | Lauki Handva Recipe | How to make Gujarati Handvo

Mixed Dal Handvo or Lauki Handva is a popular gluten free Gujarati breakfast or snack, made from mixed lentils, rice and bottle gourd. Handvo is made with a rice-dal fermented batter and grated bottle gourd (lauki / ghiya). Handvo is steamed / pan fried in a frying pan or a kadhai. Handvo is suitable for a Jain diet.

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I had been waiting for this long weekend for ages and it has gone in a poof.. Somehow, all my long weekends seem busier than my regular 2 day weekends. Any of you out there with me on this one?

So, what did you do this Ganesh Chaturthi? I hope you all had a wonderful Chaturthi.

I spent my days cleaning the house before the festival and then just cooking, cooking and more cooking. Whew! Does life get busy around festivals!

I made these super delicious Steamed Modaks. I love them sooo much more than the fried ones. I think I ate more than all others combined. 

To add to this Raj has a potluck in office and he wanted to take these Almond Chocolate Brownies. Thanks to my small oven, we had to keep baking it batches and it kept us in the house watching the oven for a long time.

But the festivities are done, the sweets have taken a toll on my weight for sure. It's now time to get back to something nutritious and healthy. These Protein Packed Mixed Dal Handvo or Handva as it is sometimes called, was just the thing I had in mind for Tuesday breakfast. 

To tell you the truth, I wasn't convinced about Handvo when I watched it on TV. I wondered if it could taste so good as the show presenter was saying. Then, I tried it at home, following this recipe from Tarla Dalal and I must say, those guys on TV weren't lying, it is absolutely delicious. And healthy too... Now I can have my cake and eat it too!!

What is Handvo or Handva?

Handvo is a pan-fried or steamed savory cake made with a fermented batter of rice and mixed lentils. Rice and a variety of lentils or dals are soaked for 6-8 hours and then blended to form a thick coarse batter. To this batter, yogurt or curd is added to help it ferment better.

You can tell that the batter is fermented by looking at it, it should be light and fluffy and should have risen. If the temperatures in your region are high, this may take as less as 5-6 hours and if they are cold, it may take 10 hours or longer. 

Lauki or Bottle gourd or Ghiya is lightly fried in a tempering of mustard, curry leaves, asafoetida (hing) and turmeric powder before adding to the batter. If you cannot find bottle gourd, you can replace it with Zucchini or skip it too.

This batter is then steamed on a greased pan until cooked.

The side facing the pan first is crispy and the inside is soft. 

You may add a tempering before serving, it is highly recommended.

Handvo tastes best with pudina chutney, but you can also serve it with ketchup or just plain.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo @oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are up to.

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Video Recipe

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Mixed Dal Handvo Recipe | Lauki Handva Recipe | How to make Gujarati Handvo

Mixed Dal Handvo or Lauki Handva is a popular gluten free Gujarati breakfast or snack, made from mixed lentils, rice and bottle gourd. Handvo is made with a rice-dal fermented batter and grated bottle gourd (lauki / ghiya). Handvo is steamed in a frying pan or a kadhai.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            Gujarati
Prep Time:     16 hours
Cook time:     30 minutes
Total time:     6 minutes
Yield:                Serves 4 to 5

Author:                Anupama

Ingredients:

1 cup Rice
0.5 cup Moong Dal
0.5 cup Toor Dal
2 Tbsp Urad Dal
2 Tbsp Chana Dal
0.5 cup thick Curd ( yogurt / dahi)
0.25 tsp Baking Soda (meetha soda)
2 cup Bottlegourd (Lauki / ghiya), grated, loosely packed
2 Tbsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 Tbsp Curry leaves, chopped
0.25 tsp Asafoetida (Hing), gluten free
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Sesame seeds (til)
Oil to grease the pan
Salt to taste
Oil to grease the pan

For the tempering:

1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Sesame seeds (til)
1 sprig Curry leaves

Method:

1. Mix the rice, moong dal, toor dal, chana dal and urad dal in a large bowl. Wash 2 to 3 times and soak in water for 6 hours.
2. After 6 hours, drain the water and blend to a thick coarse batter without adding any water. The dals would have soaked up water and that is sufficient to blend. If you still are struggling to blend, add very little and blend.
3. Remove the batter to a large bowl and add in the curd and baking soda. Mix well and cover and keep aside to ferment overnight or for 6-8 hours.
4. Next morning, heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.
5. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the chopped curry leaves, hing, turmeric powder and grated bottle gourd. Mix well and cook on low heat for 5 minutes or until the bottlegourd softens a little.
6. Add this to the batter and add salt. Mix well.
7. In a shallow kadhai or in a frying pan add 1-2 Tbsp oil and spoon in the batter. Sprinkle sesame seeds. You will have to cook the handvo in batches. The size of your frying pan or kadhai will determine how many batches. I made 2 handvos in a 24 cm frying pan.
8. Cover and cook on low heat until the top is almost cooked. It should look somewhat set. This may take 8-10 minutes.
9. Carefully flip the handvo and cook on high heat until the second side is cooked and has brown spots.
10. Cool the handvo a little before slicing. Handvo will appear to be sticky when hot, it will set better as it cools.
11. Just before serving, make a tempering by heating oil and adding mustard seeds, curry leaves and sesame seeds and pour on the handvo.
12. Serve warm with pudina chutney.

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