Khandvi recipe: cooking without oil

Last month was the month of festivities in India. When there is a festival, how can anyone avoid feasting? We indulged in various delicacies to our heart’s content. Now when we are done with festivals and celebrations, it is time to take care of our health. Today I will share recipe of a healthy and delicious dish from Gujrat, called khandvi. In this khandvi recipe I have not used any oil.

I have earlier shared some healthy recipes such as how to make roasted chivda (flattened rice), healthy and tasty fruit salad, and spinach and corn curry. If you want to try these recipes, please click on the links.

Khandvi is now popular throughout India. It is made with gram flour (garbanzo bean flour) and yogurt. It is gluten-free, and is rich in proteins. Traditionally it is eaten as a side dish, but can be taken as a snack as well. They look very attractive, and can uplift any table arrangement.

It is made using gram flour(besan) and buttermilk in 1:3 proportion. Yogurt is also used in place of buttermilk (as I have done here). In that case, water is added to make the mixture thin. Khandvi tastes better if yogurt/buttermilk is a bit sour. This solution should be blended properly so that no lumps are present. Heeng(asafoetida) is used in generous amount. If you are using pure heeng and not the powder – that has become popular nowadays, then be careful. Use only small quantity as larger amount will make the dish bitter. The blended solution is then cooked on low to medium flame. Once it is cooked properly, it is spread on a smooth surface. Traditionally back of large steel plates or trays are used to spread the solution. Three to four plates are needed for this, as we need a large surface to spread a thin layer of the solution. Granite or marble kitchen platform can also be used for this purpose. The solution should be spread quickly, else it starts solidifying as it cools down.

Khandvi recipe: pic1 showing thin batter in the beginning, and pic2 showing thick batter, ready to set.

Once set, thin ribbons of 2 inch width are cut and rolled into khandvi. I like to add some grated coconut, carrot, finely chopped green chillies and coriander leaves as filling to the khandvi. Once all the rolls are ready, they are tempered with mustard seeds, green chilli and heeng. I have used shredded carrot for garnishing along with desiccated coconut and finely chopped coriander leaves (cilantro). The use of carrot gives slightly sweet flavor, and adds beautiful color to the dish. It is nutritious too.

Steps to make khandvi rolls

I have not used oil in this khandvi recipe. Though oil is naturally present in ingredients such as coconut and mustard seeds. Adding oil to this dish does not add any flavor and in fact there is no need to add oil.

Khandvi is ready

It took me some effort to perfect the dish. Though it is not very difficult to make, but I could know the perfect stage when the cooking should stop after few botched attempts. In first two trials, I did not cook the solution enough, resulting in soggy khandvi. Once I cooked a bit too much, and the mixture solidified too fast, and I could not properly spread the mixture to prepare rolls. To know the perfect stage, look at the embedded video carefully.

To watch video, click on the play button (arrow)

Khandvi recipe: Oil free cooking

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Khandvi recipe: cooking without oil

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Healthy and delicious khandvi is not very difficult to make, once you get to understand the right consistency of batter when you have to stop cooking. It is gluten free, cooked without using oil, and is rich in proteins. It is a side dish, and can also be eaten as snack.

• CourseSide dish
• CuisineGujrati, Indian

Servings	Prep Time
5 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Servings Prep Time 5 people 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Khandvi recipe: cooking without oil Print Recipe Healthy and delicious khandvi is not very difficult to make, once you get to understand the right consistency of batter when you have to stop cooking. It is gluten free, cooked without using oil, and is rich in proteins. It is a side dish, and can also be eaten as snack. CourseSide dish CuisineGujrati, Indian Servings Prep Time 5 people 10 minutes Cook Time 20 minutes Servings Prep Time 5 people 10 minutes Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup gram flour/garbanzo bean flour/besan
• 1 cup yogurt preferably sour
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon heeng/asafoetida
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi
• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons dessicated fresh coconut
• 2 tablespoons shredded carrot (optional)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro/coriander leaves

For tampering

• 1/2 teaspoon heeng/asafoetida
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 3 numbers green chillies 2 chillies split, and 1 chilli very finely chopped

Servings: people

Instructions

1. Add gram flour, yogurt, and water to a blender. Also add to it the seasonings- asafoetida(heeng), turmeric(haldi), and salt to taste. Churn it all together in the blender. You can use any type of blender, or even blend the ingredients with a tablespoon or a whisk. Take care that there are no lumps in the solution.
2. Take a heavy bottomed pan. Pour the mixture in it. Keep the pan on medium heat, and start cooking the mixture. Continuously stir and scrape the mixture. Gradually you will notice that the mixture has started thickening.
3. When the mixture thickens, lower the heat, else it sticks to the bottom of the pan, and gets burnt. Also, lumps start forming pretty fast, and it becomes difficult to keep everything in control.
4. In the meantime, get ready the surface where you intend to spread the mixture and set it. You can use back of the plates, if they are smooth, trays, or any other clean smooth surface such as marble or granite kitchen platform. I prefer to use marble table top.
5. After about 15 minutes of cooking, check whether the mixture is ready to set. Take a small quantity of the mixture and spread it on the smooth surface. Wait for a minute or two. Scrape it with a knife. If it comes out smoothly, the mixture is cooked. If it does not come out readily, cook some more. In this case it took 20 minutes of cooking. The time may vary according to room temperature, heating temperature, and thickness of the prepared solution.
6. Once you are sure that the mixture will set, switch off the heating. Quickly spread the mixture on the surface using a ladle or tablespoon. You can use a knife or a spatula to smoothen the spread surface, and make it even. Do not worry, if it is not very smooth, as this surface will go inside the roll, and lower surface that is smooth will be seen. This step should be performed fast. If the solution cools down it will not be possible to spread it on the surface.
7. Once set, take a knife and cut ribbons of 2 inch width, and about 5 inch length. Spread half of coconut, carrot, and cilantro on the surface. If you want it spicy, also sprinkle very finely chopped green chilli.
8. Make small rolls of the ribbons. Place them on a serving plate. When all the rolls are ready, prepare tempering. For this take a small pan, and heat it a bit. Now add mustard seeds to the pan. Traditionally a table spoon of cooking oil is used to prepare the tempering, but I have not used any oil. Once the seeds start sputtering, add split green chillies, and then asafoetida/heeng. spread this tempering evenly on the khandvi rolls. Decorate the rolls by garnishing them with remaining carrot, coconut, and coriander leaves.
9. Khandvi is ready to be served. It is eaten at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

Tips

• Continuously stir the batter while cooking, otherwise it will become lumpy.
• It can be prepared in advance and stored covered, in refrigerator. Take it out few hours before it has to be served, so that it reaches room temperature.

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