Khandvi is a Gujarati snack. It is a savory roll up made up of gram flour and buttermilk. Buttermilk and gram flour are slow cooked with minimum spices and rolled up and tempered before eating. This is not very spicy or oily and is a favorite snack with kids and elders alike. My grandparents love this snack made by me. It is always a pleasure when people who taught you cooking appreciate your skills and like something you make.

It is a pretty easy and quick cooking snack but making khandvi is not less than an art. It needs a lot of practice. The pan you are cooking it in has to be a non-stick pan or else the gram flour will stick to it and the batter will get burnt. You need to spread the batter very quickly and thinly while it is still hot. The batter gets cooled very quickly and you cannot spread it once it is cooled. Try to make it in batches and make small portions first till you get a hang of spreading the batter fast.

The trick is to spread the batter as thinly as possible, cut the khandvis lengthwise into equal strips and roll them carefully. You can spread the batter on back of a plate, marble counter top, or on a foil too.

You can even stuff the khandvi if you want a variation. Once you have spread the batter you can put a thin layer of grated paneer mixed with salt, black pepper, and chopped coriander and then cut and roll up the khandvi. Traditionally, the tempering for khandvi is of mustard seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida. You can also add green chillies and sesame seeds to the tempering.

I like to add fresh grated cottage cheese (paneer) as a garnish but it is optional. This is ideally a tea time snack and you can serve it as it is or with mint chutney, or ketchup. Khandvi can be kept in refrigerator for couple of days but without the garnish and tempering. It is best eaten the same day.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup buttermilk
• ½ cup gram flour (besan)
• ½ tsp asafoetida (heeng)
• 1 tsp green chilli and ginger paste
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander
• 1 tbsp fresh grated coconut
• 1 tbsp fresh grated cottage cheese (paneer) optional
• 12-15 curry leaves
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp oil + 1 tsp oil for greasing
• Salt to taste

Recipe

Whisk together buttermilk, gram flour, half of asafoetida, green chilli and ginger paste, turmeric, salt, and lemon juice in a deep non-stick pan. The pan has to be non-stick otherwise the khandvi batter will stick to the pan and burn.

Cook on a low flame stirring continuously till the batter becomes thick. It should take approximately 6-7 minutes. The consistency of the mixture should be like a paste.

Grease a plate on reverse side using little oil. Take a ladle full of the batter and spread it as thinly and evenly as possible using a spatula. For the above proportion, I greased 2 plates of (approximately 10 inches). You can spread it on a greased foil, or a clean counter top.

Once the batter is cooled, cut the khandvi on each plate lengthwise around 2 inches in width and roll up.

Just before serving, garnish with grated coconut and paneer and chopped coriander. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, and asafoetida. Once the seeds pop, pour the tempering on the khandvi and serve. You can even add chopped/slit green chillies and sesame seeds to the tempering.

Important

• If you are making this in quantity, try to prepare it in batches as the gram flour tends to harden up pretty fast.
• You have to be very quick while spreading out the khandvi paste. It needs to be spread out while it is hot.
• The easiest way to tell if the batter is ready to spread is to take a tiny amount and spread it on a greased plate or surface. If it rolls easily after few seconds, then the batter is ready.