Poorni's Cookbook: 06/09/16

A popular and delicious Gujarati savory snack, Khandvi is a tasty and healthy, melt-in-mouth rolls. You can make Khandvi with the basic ingredients available at home and it is pretty easy to prepare too!

It has been a while since I checked my blog. My little one has started walking and I have to be around her ALL THE TIME! Tomorrow is the usual Monthly blog hop and reluctantly, I started the post while hubby watched over the baby. It is not because of me being lazy or anything but it is getting quite hard to find time to sit and type anything on laptop. My little beast wants to do everything that her mama does and she loves working on my laptop too except that she bangs her fists on the letters creating a havoc on the screen!

Anyway, to begin with the actual post, it would be lying if I said I made it perfect the first time I prepared. I had my share of disasters with khandvi and was desperately trying to get it perfect at least once. It was so intimidating yesterday while I was preparing Khandvi and was desperately hoping for it to come out right. I made it on stove and tried microwaving too and guess what? Microwave method was easy and thinner than the stove cooked.

I should thank Nishamadhulika mam for the microwave method though I just took it's reference while the cooking time and the ingredients are quite different. I have tried Khandvi many times before and have never got it as good as I got it yesterday. So I made it for dinner (Yes, dinner!!) Don't be so surprised.. Dinner is a light affair at my home and hence Khandvi was perfect. I made mint and coriander chutney(Hubby made actually) which went pretty well with it although it did not need anything to go with it. I made khandvi thrice yesterday. Needless to say, the first one was a disaster. The second and third attempt were great and loved by my family.

I found a simple trick to make the khandvi perfect and that is adding the oil to the mixture while cooking and NOT greasing the surface where you will be spreading the mixture. Yes, you read it right. Do NOT grease the surface. The rolls will come out easy and perfect and the dough will be perfectly cooked. This trick works on both stove cooked and microwaved dough. With the pride of finally getting Khandvi perfect, I give you the recipe here.

Nutritional Information (Approx) (per serving)

Energy	122.6	Calories
Fat	7	%
Carbohydrates	10.9	%
Dietary Fiber	1.6	%
Sodium	17.8	mg
Vitamin A	0.6	%
Vitamin C	0.6	%
Calcium	3.8	%
Iron	0.9	%
Protein	4.8	Grams
Sugar	1.8	Grams

Ingredients

Besan/ Chickpea flour/ Gram flour	1 cup
Yogurt	1 cup
Water	2 cups
Grated ginger	1 teaspoon
Chilli flakes(Optional)	1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder	1 teaspoon
Salt	to taste
Oil	1 tablespoon
Asafoetida	1/4 teaspoon

To temper and garnish

Oil	1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds	1 teaspoon
Curry leaves	A handful
Green chillies	2 or 3
Grated coconut	as needed
Chopped corainder leaves	A handful

Stove-top Method:

Mix Besan, curd, turmeric powder, ginger paste, water, salt,oil and chilli flakes. Stir well till the mixture is smooth is has no lumps. Pour the mixture in a cooking pan and cook it at low flame.
Keep stirring the mixture without stop since leaving it on stove even for 10 seconds will create thick lumps.
The mixture will thicken and will start to boil. Be alert to make sure the dough does not get overcooked.
A trick to know if the dough has cooked enough is to check for the steam. When the steam starts to come out and dough seems like a medium peaks on whipped cream.
Spread a teaspoon of mixture on the counter where you wish to spread and blow it to cool it asap. Try rolling it and if it rolls well, that means the mixture is ready.

Quickly spread the mixture on the counter or the back of a plate (which is NOT greased) as thinly as possible. Let it cool for about 10 minutes. Using a knife, cut the Khandvi into thin stripes and roll them up one by one. Arrange them on a plate or a dish while you prepare for the tempering.

Microwave Method

In a mixer, grind together curd, besan, water, turmeric powder and salt till it is smooth and frothy with no visible lumps.
Pour the mixture to a microwave-safe bowl and add ginger paste, chilli flakes,oil and asafoetida. Mix well.
Microwave the mixture on high temperature for 5 minutes and then stir the mixture well.

Then, microwave it for 2 minutes, remove from the oven and stir well. Check the dough by spreading a teaspoon on counter while the rest of the dough in the bowl rests in the oven.
Keep microwaving the dough for 2 minute intervals to check the consistency. Once the dough is cooked enough to be rolled, spread the mixture quickly on the counter or the surface of your choice.

Using a sharp knife, cut the Khandvi into thin stripes and roll them up one by one. Arrange them on a plate or a dish while you prepare for the tempering.
To temper, Heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once they start to splutter, add curry leaves and chopped Green chillies. Once the chillies look fried enough, pour the hot tadka on Khandvis. Garnish with grated fresh coconut and coriander leaves and serve hot with any chutney or tomato sauce.

* While cooking on stove top, be careful about the timing of the mixture. Remove from flame as soon as it starts to let out steam and if the dough seems too sticky, you can always put it back on stove.
* If the mixture is not cooked well enough or gets over cooked, the rolls will thicken.
* Make sure to spread the mixture on surface as quickly as you can since the rolls will break if the mixture cools before it's spread.
* While making with Microwave, make sure to stir well every 2 minutes and check for the consistency by spreading it on surface EVERY TIME you take it out.
* In many recipe books and blogs, they advise you to grease the surface where you would want to spread the mixture. But I found out that it is actually not necessary since greasing will only make the spreading of the mixture more difficult.