S04 · Snacks · Gujarat and Kathiawad
Baked Handvo
Gujarat's savoury lentil-rice cake with grated lauki, baked until the crust is crisp and the inside moist. Four dals in the batter make it the most protein-varied snack in the chapter.
- Region
- Gujarat
- Diet
- Strictly vegetarian, egg-free
- Prep
- 15 min
- Time, as written
- Soak 4 h · Ferment 6–8 h · Prep 15 min · Bake 45 min
- Serves
- 6 (1 square, about 150 g, each)
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Status
- Traditional; oven-baked (the handvo cooker or a kadhai are equally traditional)
- Good for
- Tea-time, tiffin, travel
Nutrition
Good source| Per serving | kcal | Protein | Carbs | Fat | Sat fat | Fibre | Sugars | Protein per 100 kcal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per serving | 210 | 9 g | 30 g | 6 g | 1 g | 5 g | 3 g | 4.0 g |
Tier: Good source. Contains 5 g sugar for the whole batch. Values checked against IFCT 2017 on 14 Oct 2026.
Values are estimates calculated from the listed ingredients and quantities (IFCT 2017 and product labels), not laboratory measurements. How the numbers were calculated.
Ingredients
Tempering
Method
Soak rice and dals together 4 hours. Drain and grind coarsely with the curd (like fine rava). Ferment 6–8 hours.
Mix in lauki, carrot, peas, ginger-chilli paste, turmeric, sugar and salt.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Grease a 20 × 20 cm tin with 5 g of the oil.
Heat the remaining oil; add mustard seeds, sesame, curry leaves and hing. Pour half into the batter with the baking soda and stir well.
Pour the batter into the tin; drizzle the remaining tempering over the top.
Bake 40–45 minutes until deep golden and a skewer comes out clean. Rest 10 minutes; cut into 6 squares.
Protein optimisation
- Where the protein comes from
- Four dals supply 5.5 g per serving; rice 1 g; curd 1 g; peas and sesame 1 g.
- Boost
- Reduce rice to 70 g and add 30 g more toor dal (+1 g protein per serving, slightly denser texture), or serve with 100 g curd (+3.5 g protein, +60 kcal).
Variations, serving and storage
- Regional
- Parsi-style tavethi — similar batter cooked as thick pancakes on a tawa.
- Substitution
- Ready handvo flour (label-dependent nutrition).
- Storage
- 3 days refrigerated; freezes 1 month.
- Food safety
- Refrigerate cut squares once cool.
- Meal prep
- Excellent.
Allergens
Milk (curd), sesame
Labels: Good source · Meal-prep friendly · Soy-free · Whey-free · Gluten-free*
Gluten-free* means gluten-free only when certified gluten-free hing is used; most hing contains wheat flour.