Handvo

I am always in favor of quick and healthy meals for busy weekdays. There are so many easy recipes I have, but one of my favorites and with lots of memories atached is my mom's Handvo. Yes, this recipe is my mom's way of grinding a cooking handvo. So what is Handvo? I know my Gujarati friends would know the answer :) To explain it in a gist, Handvo is a savory cake and a well balanced meal of proteins, carbs, and fats for vegetarians.

Few months ago I bought a Kitchen Aid mixer, which has been a great investment for making dough and kneading pav dough. It surely saves a lot of time and effort. I stumbled upon kitchen aid grain mill attachment and was so excited to see it. Fresh chakki atta. Yes, good quality grains milled fresh right in my own kitchen was a great idea. I just do not like the Dhokla and handvo flour available at the Indian store. It is not fresh and I just do not like the taste. Buying a grain mill attachment has been such a good idea and great addition to my kitchen gadgets and my lifestyle. And specially with recipes like dhokla and handvo...wow I can now enjoy those recipes away from home.

Like I said earlier, my mom makes the best handvo and there are few reasons behind it. Firstly, she buys whole grains, mixes them into a certain ratio, and gets the grains ground into coarse flour. This flour is made with the wonderful combination of cereals and pulses to add nutrition to daily diet. The second reason why my mom's handvo is the best is that she mixes the tempering with the batter unlike most of the recipes where the temper remains at the bottom of the pan. As the temper mixes into the batter, the flavor, crunch and spices mix well to give the best end result. Try it out and I am sure you will love it.

Traditionally hando flour is made from grains ground and flour stored in air tight container. Whenever needed flour is mixed to form a batter, allowed to ferment overnight, and then made into handvo.  I understand that everyone does not own a grain mill and it is difficult to grind grains to make flour. There is a solution. Soak grains first and then grind in a food processor. You can then add yogurt and allow this ground grain batter to ferment overnight and then prepare it into delicious and nutritious handvo.

Also Handvo can be cooked in different ways: on stove top as well as baked in an oven. Bellow I have various ideas and options you can use to prepared handvo.

Ingredients to make handvo flour. This flour should be stored in an airtight container and used as and when needed. The below ingredients are in a ratio but you can make slight changes based on the availability of grains and your palate.

3 cups ponni or idli rice
1+1/4 cup urad dal
1/2 cup chana dal
1/2 cup whole wheat
1/3 cup toor dal
1/3 cup Moong dal
1/3 cup whole moong

Mix all the grains and grind in a grain mill on coarse setting. If you are in India, you can mix and get the grains ground in a mill/chakki. Tell the vendor that you would like the grains slightly coarse and not as fine as whole wheat atta.

Ingredients to make Handvo
2 cups handvo flour
1+1/2 cup sour yogurt
Water to make thick batter
2 tbsp. oil
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. ginger and green chilli paste
1 tsp. red chilli powder
1 tsp. turmeric powder
Veggies of your choice:
1/2 cup grated bottle gourd (doodhi/lauki)
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped green beans
1/2 cup green peas

For tempering
3 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. urad dal
1/2 tbsp. mustard seeds
3-4 dry red chillies or boriya mirch
4-5 curry leaves
Pinch of hing/asofotida
1 tbsp. sesame seeds/till (optional)

• In a bowl mix flour, yogurt, and water to form a thick batter. Cover and let the batter rest for 8-10 hours to ferment. The place where I live and depending on the type of yogurt, I keep the batter for 24 hours to ferment and get the best taste. Your batter might rise and have great bubbles but if it does not, do not worry. You should not keep the batter to ferment for more than 24 hours.
• Add salt, ginger and green chilli paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, oil, baking soda, and veggies. Mix well.
• For tempering: heat oil in a skillet or kadhai in which you would like to cook handvo. Fry urad dal till it slightly turns color. Add mustard seeds, dry red chillies. curry leaves, and pinch of asofoetida. When the temper crackles. add prepared batter to the skillet and immediately stir to mix in the temper. Cover and let batter cook for 30-45 minutes on medium heat till you get a good crust at the bottom. 
• Poke center of handvo with thin knife or toothpick. It is done if it comes out clean. If not, cook for more time. 
• To bake in an oven proof skillet or cast iron skillet: Use the same tempering method as above. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and then bake in a 375F preheated oven for 1+1/2 hour or till center is cooked. 
• To bake in a bundt pan or cup cake pan or loaf pan:  Use the same temping method as above. Mix the temper into the batter. Grease baking pan generously. Pour tempered batter in the baking pan. Sprinkle sesame seeds. Bake in 375 F preheated oven for 30 mins to an hour depending on the size of the pan and quantity of batter. Check if it is done by piercing the center with a toothpick or a knife.  You should get a beautiful crust on the bottom and top of handvo. 
• The combination of crusty sides and soft center makes it super delicious :) 
• Serve with fresh cilantro chutney or sweet God Keri pickle.
• Enjoy!!

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

Mix all the grains and grind in a grain mill on coarse setting. If you are in India, you can mix and get the grains ground in a mill/chakki. Tell the vendor that you would like the grains slightly coarse and not as fine as whole wheat atta.

KitchenAid Grain Mill

Here is a video of grinding grains in my KitchenAid grain mill

In a bowl mix flour, yogurt, and water to form a thick batter. Cover and let the batter rest for 8-10 hours to ferment. The place where I live and depending on the type of yogurt, I keep the batter for 24 hours to ferment and get the best taste. Your batter might rise and have great bubbles but if it does not, do not worry. You should not keep the batter to ferment for more than 24 hours.

Add salt, ginger and green chilli paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, oil, baking soda, and veggies. Mix well.

For tempering: heat oil in a skillet or kadhai in which you would like to cook handvo. Fry urad dal till it slightly turns color. Add mustard seeds, dry red chillies. curry leaves, and pinch of asofoetida. When the temper crackles. add prepared batter to the skillet and immediately stir to mix in the temper.

Cover and let batter cook for 30-45 minutes on medium heat till you get a good crust at the bottom.

To bake in a bake proof skillet or cast iron skillet: You can start the process on the stove and move the skillet to the oven to bake handvo. Use the same tempering method as above. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and then bake in a 375F preheated oven for 1+1/2 hour or till center is cooked.

Cook handvo in regular kadhai. Temper using the above method. Mix in the batter with the temper, cover and cook for 30-40 minutes on medium heat. You will have crusty bottom and soft top. Delicious!!

To bake in a bundt pan or cup cake pan or loaf pan:  Use the same temping method as above. Mix the temper into the batter. Grease baking pan generously. Pour tempered batter in the baking pan. Sprinkle sesame seeds. Bake in 375 F preheated oven for 30 mins to an hour or more depending on the size of the pan and quantity of batter. Check if it is done by piercing the center with a toothpick or a knife. 

Enjoy this piece of Goodness!!!

Homemade Maggi Noodles

While we were growing up Mummy always made delicious hot homemade food. Homemade snacks and fresh food as we would come back from school. Then came the era of fast food... noodles, pasta, pizza, burger. And then came Instant food, our very popular and favorite 2 minute Maggi Noodles (which actually never cooked in 2 minutes :) ) These were nothing but Ramen Noodles with tastemaker spice mix made for Indian palate. Spicy Masala was so delicious. Just boil noodles and add taste maker pack and delicious noodles ready to eat. Some of you might remember Bisca cup noodles. Those were dehydrated noodle with veggies in a cup. Just by adding hot water into the cup, they would be ready to slurp. Of course, parents were never happy with instant noodles. All purpose flour noodles and taste maker with ingredients that could not be pronounced. According to my mom these noodles made of all purpose flour were totally unhealthy and would stick in our stomach. That was her way of explaining us the concept of constipation.  The tastemaker according to my mom was another filthy powder made with chemicals. "Fast to cook, Good to eat" was not close to true. But it pleased lot of children. The ad was very interesting and colorful with kids playing in a big yard. As the kids came home hungry their mom would open a cabinet full of packets of Maggi and make these quick 2 minute noodles with veggies :) I don't think Indian moms in those days would stack so much instant food. But, they are indeed super delicious and addictive!! 

Click here for more maggi ads to enjoy.

With recent of controversy regarding Maggi Noodles having higher content of harmful chemicals, Maggi Noodle supply and sale have been banned globally. It has been an eye opener for everyone. But, the taste is so delicious, there was a need for me to come up with the recipe to make homemade Maggi Noodles and the tastemaker Masala using ingredients without harmful chemicals, preservatives or additives. 

Lot of thought and effort went into coming up with the recipe. I checked the ingredient list at the back of the pack. Used my knowledge of ingredients and proportion, created this recipe which is solely mine. Lot of wastage of ingredients, messy kitchen, and the amount of time and effort are all worth this homemade recipe. A humble request to everyone and food bloggers: if you make these at home, (using the same ingredients or by tweaking them), please give proper credit by adding my post link.

Since these are homemade, there would definitely be slight difference in the type of noodles and spicy masala. But we are assured that what we give our family is delicious and safe. Also the type of ingredients you use at home can give a different taste. You might have to adjust your ingredients according to your taste.

Here is the original Maggi Noodles & Spicy Masala

Ingredients 

To make Maggi Noodles

1 cup all purpose flour or maida

1 tbsp. vital wheat gluten (optional)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. oil

Water 

To make spicy masala taste maker

2 tbsp. dry onion powder or dry minced onions

1 tbsp. dry garlic powder or dry minced garlic

1/2 tbsp. red chilli powder (or according to your taste)

1/2 tbsp garam masala powder

1/8 tsp. turmeric powder

1/2 tsp. citric acid granules

1/2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. oil

To make Noodles:

• Mix flour, wheat gluten (optional), salt, baking soda, oil in a bowl. Use vital wheat gluten that is available in an grocery store. Wheat gluten helps in making the noodles elastic and long without breaking them. If using whole wheat flour, adding wheat gluten is very important. Add little water at a time a make a stiff dough. Dough should be stiff. Knead the dough for 5-7 minutes to develop gluten and make the dough elastic. Cover and let the dough aside for 20 minutes.
• Use a pasta maker with thin noodle attachment to extrude thin noodles. Use dry flour to avoid noodles from sticking to each other. If you dough is not stiff and hard, the noodles will tend to stick and clump up to one another. I use my Kitchen-aid pasta maker attachment with the mixer to make long noodles. It is very simple. You would use the noodles immediately or let them dry.
• If you do not have a pasta maker, use traditional Indian Sev press. Sev press has a disc with tiny hole to spin long noodles. Since this is manual, it takes lot of efforts to press the dough into noodles. It would be ideal if someone could help you hold the press while you could press the dough. Use dry flour to avoid noodles from clumping up and sticking to each other. You would use the noodles immediately or let them dry.

To make spicy masala mix:

• Mix all the ingredients except oil in a bowl. Heat oil in a pan. Add all dry ingredients and mix well for a minute. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool. Grind to form a fine powder. TIP: If you do not want to use citric acid granules, you could use 1 tbsp. lime juice after the noodles have been cooked in water.  

To make Maggi:

• Use 3 cups of water to boil all noodles made from this recipe. 
• Boil water. Cook veggies of your choice.
• Add noodles to boiling water. Cook for 3-4 minutes. 
• Add tastemaker spicy masala.
• Cook till water evaporates and maggi thickens as per your consistency. Do not overcook noodles. they may get lumpy. Remember cooking process continues even after you turn off the heat. 
• Serve in a bowl and enjoy not "2 Minute Noodles".

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

Mix flour, wheat gluten (optional), salt, baking soda, oil in a bowl. Use vital wheat gluten that is available in an grocery store. Wheat gluten helps in making the noodles elastic and long without breaking them. If using whole wheat flour, adding wheat gluten is very important. Add little water at a time a make a stiff dough. Dough should be stiff. Knead the dough for 5-7 minutes to develop gluten and make the dough elastic. Cover and let the dough aside for 20 minutes.

If you do not have a pasta maker, use traditional Indian Sev press. Sev press has a disc with tiny hole to spin long noodles. Since this is manual, it takes lot of efforts to press the dough into noodles. Use dry flour to avoid noodles from clumping up and sticking to each other. It would be ideal if someone could help you hold the press while you could press the dough.

Use a pasta maker with thin noodle attachment to extrude thin noodles. Use dry flour to avoid noodles from sticking to each other. If you dough is not stiff and hard, the noodles will tend to stick and clump up to one another. I use my Kitchen-aid pasta maker attachment with the mixer to make long noodles. It is very simple. You would use the noodles immediately or let they dry.

To make spicy masala:

Mix all the ingredients except oil in a bowl. Heat oil in a pan. Add all dry ingredients and mix well for a minute. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool. Grind to form a fine powder. TIP: If you do not want to use citric acid granules, you could use 1 tbsp. lime juice after the noodles have been cooked in water.  

Onion and garlic powder can be found at a grocery store in spice aisle. I bought these from Sprouts market. They are dehydrated and have wonderful concentrated flavor.

To make Maggi:

Use 3 cups of water to boil all noodles made from this recipe. 

Boil water. Cook veggies of your choice.

Add noodles to boiling water. Cook for 3-4 minutes. 

Add tastemaker spicy masala.

Cook till water evaporates and maggi thickens as per your consistency. Do not overcook noodles. they may get lumpy. Remember cooking process continue even after you turn off the heat. 

Serve in a bowl and enjoy not "2 Minute Noodles"

 Enjoy Maggi Noodles!