Khandvi Recipe

Khandvi recipe. This is a melt in the mouth, smooth, spicy and seasoned gram flour buns. Khandvi is a tasty healthy snack from Gujarati cuisine.
Khandvi is made with a mixture of chickpea flour and buttermilk. In India what we call buttermilk is a thin solution of water and yogurt. Baking this smooth paste of chickpea flour and buttermilk paste is a tricky part. If you get this right then more than half of your work is done.
What we are looking for in a khandvi are thin layers and this is achieved by getting the right consistency when baking the dough. If you cook it even more and the consistency thickens, then spreading the khandvi mixture becomes hard and you get thick layers.
Another important point is that you have to be quick to roll out the cooked khandvi dough. If you delay, the dough thickens as it cools and becomes lumpy as it spreads.
I started making khandvi many years ago. Once I had read how to prepare khandvi somewhere. The recipe had the measurements in grams and I didn’t have a scale. I was inspired to try the recipe. So without any idea of the proportions or the ratio, I made khandvi for the first time and it was a success.

Ingredients

For the Khandvi batter

▢ 1 cup of besan (gram flour) or 100 grams of besan
▢ ¾ cup sour curd, about 150 grams
▢ 2.25 cups of water, to mix with the curd (you can also use 3 cups of sour buttermilk or chaas)
▢ 1 teaspoon of ginger + green pepper paste, about ½ inch of ginger and 1 green pepper crushed in a mortar-pestle
▢ ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
▢ ⅔ teaspoon of salt or add as needed
▢ 1 pinch of asafoetida (hing)
Also Read: Burger Recipe | Vegetarian Burger

For filling

▢ 2 tablespoons of grated fresh coconut
▢ 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves

For Khandvi tempering/seasoning

▢ 1 tablespoon of oil
▢ 8 to 10 curry leaves
▢ 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
▢ 2 teaspoons of white sesame seeds
▢ 1 teaspoon of chopped green chilli or ½ red chilli powder

Instructions

Making Khandvi batter

1. Take the yogurt in a bowl. Add water and combine well until smooth.
2. Add the ginger-green pepper paste, turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt.
3. If you are using fresh yogurt, to add acidity, add about ½ teaspoon of lemon juice.
4. Add gram flour/besan. With a wire whisk, continue stirring and mixing until all of the lumps are dissolved and you have a smooth paste. The batter should be lumps free. You can also use a hand mixer to mix the batter.
5. Spread the oil on plates or planks or a platter. Large steel thalis or lids goes very well. You can also use the back of a large hob or your kitchen countertop.
6. Also mix the chopped coriander leaves and the grated coconut. Set aside.
7. Pour the batter into a large saucepan or skillet. Switch on the gas and keep the heat low. Start stirring.
8. Keep stirring when the khandvi batter heats up. Lumps start to form and you need to continuously stir so that lumps do not form.
9. The batter would thicken and continue to thicken. Keep stirring. It is best to use a wooden spatula or a heat-resistant silicone spatula.
10. The batter should not stick to the bottom either. It is therefore necessary to stir continuously. Do a plate test when the paste has thickened.
11. Spread a few teaspoons of the paste on a greased plate. Let cool a bit then start rolling. If you cannot roll, the batter needs to be baked further.
12. It took me 17 minutes to get the right consistency over low heat. The timing will differ depending on the intensity of the flame, the thickness/thinness of the pan and the pan size. Just do the plate test and when you can form the rolls, the khandvi batter is ready. If the batter gets too thick then it becomes difficult to roll out and you don’t get thin layers in the rolls. In this case, roll out the batter again. You will get thick slices, but they still taste great.

Making Khandvi rolls

1. Quickly pour about ½ to ⅔ cup batter onto a large plate and spread thinly and evenly with a spatula. You also have to be quick with the remaining batter. Since even a little cooling and the batter becomes like blob, difficult to spread.
2. Let the paste cool then sprinkle the coconut + coriander leaves mixture sparingly. This part of the stuffing and garnish can also be skipped and added directly with coconut and cilantro once you have tempered the khandvi rolls.
3. Cut into strips of equal size.
4. Gently roll each strip tightly. Then place them on a serving platter or plate. If the tray or plate is big, you will get big rolls. In this case, once you are done rolling halfway, simply cut horizontally and make a second roll.
5. Arrange the khandvi rolls next to each other or stack them properly on a plate or tray.

Tempering (seasoning) for Khandvi

1. Heat the oil and let the mustard seeds crackle for a few seconds.
2. Then add the curry leaves, the green peppers and fry for a few seconds.
3. Add the sesame seeds and when the color changes and they crackle, evenly spread the hot tempering mixture with the oil above the khandvi rolls.
4. You can garnish it with a little more coconut and cilantro leaves, if you prefer. Serve the khandvi with cilantro chutney or mint and cilantro chutney.