Spicy Rice-Lentil Cake

To start for, this will be my first Instructable, so apologies if it is not upto the mark. Today I'm going to show you how to m(b)ake a Spicy Rice-Lentil Cake (Handvo), very well know item from where I come. But have done few alterations to make it more tasty.

For the Batter:

• 1 Cup Rice
• 1/3 Cup Mix Split Lentils (Pigeon Pea/Toor Dal, Green Gram/Moong Dal, Black Lentil/Urad Dal, Chickpea/Chana Dal). You will get these in all local Indian stores
• 1 Cup Warm Water
• 3 Tbsp Curd (or 1/4 Tsp Citric Acid. If you do not get Curd, Citric Acid will be used in last step)

For the Tempering (Tadka):

• 1 Cup Oil (preferably Peanut)
• 1-2 Whole Dry Red Chillies
• 1/4 Tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1/4 Tsp Asafetida (optional)
• 1 Tbsp Sesame seeds
• 5-8 Garlic Cloves Crushed

For Mixing:

• 1/4 Tsp Dry Red Chilly Powder
• 1/4 Tsp Turmeric Powder (optional)
• 1/4 Tsp Garam Masala (optional)
• 1/2 Cup Peeled and Shredded Bottle Gourd (you can substitute with Zucchini, but then add little bit more water)
• 1 Cup Mix Vegetables (you can mostly add any veggies of your choice)
  1. Shredded Carrot
  2. Finely Diced cauliflower/broccoli
  3. Peas
• Dried fenugreek leaves (Kasuri Methi) [optional, adds more flavor]
• 1/4 Cup Jaggery (optional, do not use sugar)
• 1-2 Green Chillies Chopped
• Few chopped leaves of coriander or cilantro.
• 1 Tsp salt

• 3-4 Garlic Cloves Crushed

• 1/4 Tsp Baking Soda

There are two ways to go to prepare the batter

1. Pre Soaking method
   
   • Take Rice and Mix Lentils and soak then in warm water for 3 hours
   • After three hours, coarse grind the soaked Rice+Lentils. Add water if need to make the batter slightly thicker then Cake batter.
   • Add Curd and keep it at rest for 3 hours (if you are not using curd, you just rest it for 3 hours).
2. Pre Grinded method (I've used this method, as we keep this stuff stored for later use)
   • Mix the Rice and Lentils and grind them in mixture-grinder coarsely. You can store this for later use.
   • Take the grinded mix, add warm water and curd and soak it for 4 hours. Add water if need to make the batter slightly thicker then Cake batter.
   • After 4 hours you will have the same batter as 1st method.

After the (3+3/4) hours of stand, its time to prepare the Tempering.

You can start to Pre-Heat your oven now at 180 Degree Celsius.

• Put oil in a pan and put it on high heat.
• Once the oil is hot, add in Red Whole Chillies (I have added green), then add Mustard Seeds.
• Once the Mustard, starts to popup and make sound add Asafoetida and half of sesame seeds.
• Then add the garlic.

• Mix the batter, veggies and other remaining spices.
• Add the hot Tempering(Tadka) and mix properly.
• Prepare you baking tray, oil it and dust with flour.
• Then add the baking soda (and crushed citric acid if not used curd previously) to the above mixture and mix vigorously.
• Immediately add this mixture in the baking tray and garnish with sesame seeds (you can also top with tomato sauce or any spicy sauce )

• Bake for around 30-40 min at 180 degree celsius (If you have microwave/convection with dual mode, keep microwave at 20% power and Convection at 180 degree celsius and bake for around 45 min).
• After 35 Mins, you can prick a knife to check if it comes clean your cake is done.
• Let it rest for 5 min in oven.
• Take it out of the oven, most of the sides will leave the tray, if not you can use a knife to clear the Cake from the tray.
• Turn it over onto a dish then force fully tap the tray to take the cake out.

You are done with m(b)aking Spicy Rice-Lentil cake. You can have it hot with oil or tomato/spicy sauce.