Handvo Cupcakes
Spicy, savory Handvo cupcake / cake, made with mixed lentils & rice flour, bottle gourd, lots of spices, nuts & seeds, and jaggery.
Handvo is a very popular Gujarati snack. It is naturally gluten-free as the flour is made out of set of lentils and rice. Many people soak the lentil and rice over night and grind it to make a batter. Although some people, including me use a pre made handvo flour or grind dry lentils and rice to make dry flour. Either way the batter needs 8-10 hours of fermenting. The fermentation process is important for the handvo to be airy and fluffy with some natural tanginess/sourness! Check the note at the end of the recipe for homemade handvo flour option!
The flavors in this dish is just divine! It is spicy, sweet, sour, tangy, garlicky. I know, you’re drooling right now, aren’t you?!?! This dish can be eaten as snack with your chai. Although my family has always made this as a dinner with some sort of milk shakes, for example chiku shake! I also like to add some murmura, thin sev and raw onions as side to this dish! I know that sounds a little extra, but do give it a try and thank me later!
Handvo is also very easy to take with you when you travel. Every time my parents travel back and forth to India, they take some Handvo and methi thepla with them on the flight. You won’t find any gujju family that does not eat Handvo. This is a true Gujarati house staple! This recipe shows you steps on how to make Handvo cupcake and regular tray of it.
Although the original way of cooking handvo is by using a special Handvo cooker that looks like a bunt cake pan, with a tray full of sand beneath it. The tray full of sand goes on top of the stove, and then you put this special handvo cooker on top of that tray with a lid on. Back in the days, no one had any oven back in India. So they used this special stovetop handvo cooker to make it. My mom still uses it back in India as it tastes a bit different, of course in a good way!
Hope you all like it as much as we do. If you end up making it and liking it, tag me on Instagram @myvegetarianroots. I would like to see your recreation of this goodie!
Happy and Healthy Eating!
Handvo Cupcake
Ingredients
Batter Ingredients
- 1½ lb Handvo Flour check note below if you do not have handvo flour mix.
- 3 tbsp Minced Garlic
- 1½ tbsp Salt
- 2 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 2 tsp Red Chili Powder
- 1 tbsp Dhana Jiru
- 1 tbsp Garam Masala
- 2 tbsp White Sesame Seeds
- 3 tbsp Jaggery
- 1 tbsp Grated Ginger
- 1 tbsp Chopped Thai Green Chilis
- ½ cup Ground Peanuts
- 1 tsp Baking Soda or sanchoro/papad kharo
- ½ cup Peanut Oil
- ½ cup Plain Whole Milk Yogurt any oil
- 3 cup Grated Indian Squash doodhi
- Water as needed to make the batter pancake like consistency
Tempering
- 3 tbsp Peanut Oil
- 1 tbsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 tbsp Sesame seeds
- ¼ tsp Asafetida
- 2 tsp Regular Eno, fruit salt
- 3 Whole Dry Red Chilies
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients listed under "Batter Ingredients" except for oil, yogurt, squash and water. Mix well.
- Add oil and mix well, making sure there are no big lumps.
- Add yogurt and mix well, making sure there are no big lumps.
- Add grated squash/duhi and mix well, making sure there are no big lumps.
- Slowly add warm water at a time to start making pancake like batter. Do no make it too thin as the grated squash tend to loose some water over time.
- Once everything is mixed well with no lumps, cover it and let it sit in dark place for 8-10 hours. You can keep it in the over with the lights on during cold winter months "DO NOT TURN THE OVEN ON WHILE YOU LET IT SIT FOR FERMENTATION". You can cover it and let it sit outside in the sun on summary hot days.
- Once the batter is well fermented, and you are ready to bake, prepare for tempering.
Tempering
- Heat oil in a small pan.
- Once hot, add mustard seeds, sesame seeds and dry red chilis. Wait for it to pop. Be careful of any splattering.
- Once popping, add asafetida and immediately pour it in the fermented batter. Give it a good stir. Taste the batter and add salt/spices if needed.
Bake it
- Preheat oven on 350° F.
- Right before baking, add eno (fruit salt) to the batter, stir it vigorously so it becomes light and fluffy.
- This will make two 12 cupcake trays, so if you are baking them in two batches, add eno to each half right before baking them.
- Pour it right away in a greased cupcake molds and bake it for 25-30 minutes minutes. You will have some batter left after poring them in 12 cupcake tray, you can use either two cupcake trays or bake the leftover batter in a square/rectangular/circular baking pan.
- Pour the leftover in a greased baking pan and bake it on 350° F for 50-60 minutes.
- Do toothpick test for checking if the handvo is baked. If the toothpick comes out clear, it means the it is done. If the batter sticks on it, keep baking for additional 5 minutes and keep doing the same toothpick test until it is completely baked.
- Once baked, take it out of the oven and let it sit for 15-20 minutes before cutting/serving.
- Serve it with masala chai, lassi, milk or any milkshakes/smoothies!