Gujarati Handvo

Ingredients

• 200g short-grain rice
• 75g split pigeon peas (toor dal)
• 25g split black gram (urad dal)
• 25g split chickpeas (chana dal)
• 250ml plain yogurt, at room temperature
• 300g bottle gourd (dudhi), peeled and coarsely grated
• 2 tbsp ginger and green chilli paste
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp fine salt
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1.5 tsp fruit salt (Eno)
• 5 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1.5 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida
• 12 fresh curry leaves
• 3 tbsp white sesame seeds
• 3 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

Before you cook

• Rinse the rice and all three dals together until the water runs clear, then soak them in plenty of cold water for 4 hours.
• Drain well and grind to a coarse batter with the yogurt, adding water only if the grinder stalls — aim for the texture of wet semolina, not a smooth paste.
• Cover the batter and leave it somewhere warm for 8 hours or overnight, until it smells pleasantly sour and has risen a little.
• Squeeze the grated bottle gourd lightly and fold it into the fermented batter with the ginger and chilli paste, turmeric, chilli powder, sugar, salt and lemon juice.
• Heat the oven to 180C fan and line a 22cm square tin with baking paper.

Steps

1. Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a small pan over medium heat.
2. Add the mustard seeds and let them pop for about 30 seconds.
3. Add the cumin seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves and fry for 15 seconds until fragrant.
4. Pour two thirds of this tempering into the batter and stir it through.
5. Sprinkle the fruit salt over the batter and fold it in gently with about ten strokes, no more.
6. Pour the batter into the lined tin and level the top with a spatula.
7. Spoon the remaining tempering over the surface and scatter the sesame seeds evenly across the top.
8. Bake for 40 minutes, until the top is deep golden and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean.
9. Drizzle the last 2 tablespoons of oil around the edges and bake for a further 10 minutes to crisp the crust.
10. Rest the handvo in the tin for 15 minutes so it firms up enough to slice cleanly.
11. Cut it into thick squares, scatter with coriander, and serve warm with green chutney and hot tea.