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Well, here I am after an unscheduled break from my food blog. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to, bla bla bla, it’s just that I’ve not had much free time, hey nonny no, and what little free time I’ve had in the evenings I’ve spent reading, yada yada yada. So, in short – same ol’ same ol’.
I’ve made handvoh before, years and years and YEARS back when I was living in Madras. It was probably one of the first “exotic” recipes that I tried from a recipe printed in *ugh* Women’s Era *cringe*. However, as much as I hate the thought of that awful magazine now, I remember the recipe worked beautifully - the batter behaved itself faultlessly, fermenting in the heat as stated in the recipe, and then steam-cooking in the ilupachatti (kadai/wok) that I used. It was all the more thrilling because the handvoh tasted great and it was not something that had ever been made by my mother, to my recollection. It wasn’t a family staple, let’s say. Just think - I'd actually made something entirely new to me from a magazine recipe - and it turned out well!
That said, this recipe, that I cobbled together after reading a few others on the Internet did not seem at all familiar or bring to mind my original handvoh experience. The only common factor was that this tasted great, too. Can’t complain about that, can you?
Recipe for: Courgette/zucchini handvoh
Ingredients:
1 cup long grain rice
1/4 cup chana dal
1/4 cup tur/toor/tuvar dal
1/4 cup urad dal
1 cup yogurt
2 tbsp ginger-garlic-green chilli paste - (1.5" piece ginger + 4-5 garlic cloves + 6-8 green chillies (reduce chillies as per taste))
1.5 packed cups grated courgette/zucchini
salt to taste
1/2 tsp ajwain/omam
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp sesame seeds
3 tbsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
a few curry leaves
Method:
1. Wash the rice and dals and soak them in water for 6 hours.
Then drain and grind along with the yogurt to a paste - it should be fairly coarse, not smooth.
Try to add as little water as possible while grinding.
2. Put the batter in a medium bowl and add the ginger-garlic-green chilli, grated courgette/zucchini
salt, sugar, ajwain/omam and turmeric.
Mix well.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil and fry the curry leaves for 15-20 seconds, then add the red chilli powder and turn the heat off. Pour this mixture into the batter and mix again.
Let the batter rest covered at room temperature overnight, or for 7-8 hours.
5. Cover and let this batter rest for 6-7 hours or overnight (no need to refrigerate).
6. In the morning (or after 6-7 hours), add the baking powder and baking soda and mix thoroughly.
7. Line an 8" cake pan (round or square, doesnt matter) with non-stick paper/foil and spoon the batter into the pan.
8. Sprinkle the sesame seeds evenly on top of the batter.
9. Heat the remaining oil in a small skillet and add the mustard seeds. Cover and let the seeds pop (about 30 seconds), then add the asafoetida powder and turn the heat off.
10. Drizzle this seasoning over the sesame seeds on top of the batter.
11. Cover the pan with aluminium foil and bake at 180C/350F for 40 minutes or so, or till a cake tester comes out clean. (Remember that the size of the pan you use will determine the amount of time that the handvoh takes to cook.)
12. Uncover the pan and broil the handvoh until the top turns golden brown.
Let it rest in the pan for 10 minutes before cutting.
Serve warm with any chutney or even tomato ketchup.
RECIPE: COURGETTE/ZUCCHINI HANDVOH
Ingredients:
1 cup long grain rice
1/4 cup chana dal
1/4 cup tur/toor/tuvar dal
1/4 cup urad dal
1 cup yogurt
2 tbsp ginger-garlic-green chilli paste - (1.5" piece ginger + 4-5 garlic cloves + 6-8 green chillies (reduce chillies as per taste))
1.5 packed cups grated courgette/zucchini
salt to taste
1/2 tsp ajwain/omam
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp sesame seeds
3 tbsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
a few curry leaves
Method:
1. Wash the rice and dals and soak them in water for 6 hours. Then drain and grind along with the yogurt to a paste - it should be fairly coarse, not smooth.Try to add as little water as possible while grinding.
2. Put the batter in a medium bowl and add the ginger-garlic-green chilli, grated courgette/zucchini, salt, sugar, ajwani/omam and turmeric. Mix well.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil and fry the curry leaves for 15-20 seconds, then add the red chilli powder and turn the heat off. Pour this mixture into the batter and mix again. Let the batter rest covered at room temperature overnight, or for 7-8 hours.
5. Cover and let this batter rest for 6-7 hours or overnight (no need to refrigerate).
6. In the morning (or after 6-7 hours), add the baking powder and baking soda and mix thoroughly.
7. Line an 8" cake pan (round or square, doesnt matter) with non-stick paper/foil and spoon the batter into the pan.
8. Sprinkle the sesame seeds evenly on top of the batter.
9. Heat the remaining oil in a small skillet and add the mustard seeds. Cover and let the seeds pop (about 30 seconds), then add the asafoetida powder and turn the heat off.
10. Drizzle this seasoning over the sesame seeds on top of the batter.
11. Cover the pan with aluminium foil and bake at 180C/350F for 40 minutes or so, or till a cake tester comes out clean. (Remember that the size of the pan you use will determine the amount of time that the handvoh takes to cook.)
12. Uncover the pan and broil the handvoh until the top turns golden brown. Let it rest in the pan for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve warm with any chutney or even tomato ketchup.
The first time I tried nut roast was a few years ago, when we went for Sunday lunch with my father-in-law and his partner, in honour of his birthday, to a pub that he favours. Sunday lunch usually involves roast beef, lamb or turkey, sometimes chicken, along with a selection of steamed vegetables and roasted potatoes, and of course a jug of gravy.
Me being vegetarian, I had to go for the only veggie option there was in the Sunday lunch section – which was nut roast. I didn’t know what it was or what I was going to get, but to my pleasant surprise, it was delicious! I don’t know if they made the nut roast from scratch at the pub or whether it was just cooked from frozen, but it didn’t matter – it was absolutely scrummy. I never had it anywhere else and we never went to that pub except with my f-i-l, but every time we went there, that’s what I had. The nut roast.
I don’t know why I didn’t think to try making it at home… well, perhaps I do know. It’s probably because the nut roast, in my mind, was linked to a specific meal at a specific place on a specific date with specific people… (and does the word specific now look as weird to you as it does to me? Repetition causes confusion.)
My mother is going to spend Christmas with us this year, the first time that circumstances have made it possible for her to be with us. (People, there IS a point to this, I’m not digressing, and especially not digressing without reason!) She was wondering what she would be able to eat for Christmas dinner, since she doesn’t even eat eggs or anything containing eggs in any form, and whether it would be too much trouble to cook for just her alone. That’s when I had the brilliant idea – I would make a nut roast for the vegetarians in the family! (See, I TOLD you, there was a point and I just made it. Without going off on a tangent. [All you need for this to happen is get the moon and the stars in the correct alignment. NOW I’m digressing. Guess the moon and stars moved.])
Of course, I didnt want to make a nut roast on Christmas Eve and then have it flop, so the next thing to do was make it now, as an experiment. (If it didnt work, at least I wouldnt have ruined our meal for Christmas!) So, I researched nut roasts and discovered that the recipe is nicely forgiving, able to accommodate pretty much anything you throw into it. The recipe below is an amalgamation of 2-3 different ones, using ingredients I prefer (courgette not aubergine, for instance; wholewheat granary breadcrumbs instead of white, etc)... and omitting the eggs entirely.
To my delight, the nut roast was as gorgeous as the one I'd had at the pub... the texture and taste were perfect. If it didnt quite hold together as well as it should have, I attribute it to the lack of egg as a "binder" (In hindsight, I should have added extra breadcrumbs). Not that I minded, and even Pete, despite good-naturedly grumbling about "too many vegetables", thought it was very tasty.
Hooray, I have a vegetarian roast recipe for Christmas! (Amma, take note.)
Recipe for: Nut roast
Ingredients:
1 cup peanuts
½ cup walnuts
Handful cashews (about 10)
Handful almonds (about 10)
1 medium courgette
1 medium carrot
1 medium onion
1 bell pepper
1 cup button mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup masoor dal (+ 2 tbsp whole masoor - optional)
2-3 dried birds eye chillies, minced (or use fresh green chillies to taste, minced)
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (I used wholewheat granary bread)
2 cups chopped herbs (combination of parsley, coriander and dill)
1 tsp dried thyme
3/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp sunflower oil
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Wash the masoor dal.
Cook in boiling water till done but not mushy.
The stove-top will do fine for this as masoor cooks very quickly, and you can keep track of its texture. Drain off the cooking water and reserve the cooked lentils.
2. Chop the nuts finely (but not to a powder – just small pieces) in a food processor (or by hand if you have that sort of patience).
3. Peel and grate the carrot. Chop the courgette, onion, bell pepper and mushrooms very finely.
4. Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed pan and fry the onions, garlic and chillies till the onion is soft and brown.
5. Add the chopped herbs, dried thyme, turmeric powder, chopped courgettes and mushrooms now and stir well.
6. Cover the pan and let the vegetables cook for 4-5 minutes, then add the grated carrots and bell pepper.
Saute for 7-10 minutes or till the vegetables are cooked.
Transfer the vegetables to a big bowl and let cool.
7. Then add the soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce and mix in. Add a little salt (about ½ tsp) and 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, the chopped nuts,
the cooked lentils
and the breadcrumbs
and mix it all with your hands to make a homogenous mixture
– it shouldn’t be dry but also don’t make it sloppy or runny, or the roast will not “set” in the oven. Also check for seasoning now and correct if necessary.
8. Pack the mixture tightly into a greased loaf tin,
cover with foil
and bake for 45 minutes covered, at 180C. After that take the foil off, lower the temperature to 160C and cook uncovered for another 10 minutes. Turn the oven off and let the loaf rest for 5-10 minutes in the oven itself, before unmoulding onto a serving plate.
Serve thickly sliced with a selection of roasted and/or steamed vegetables.
I did it! I actually made a cake with courgettes - otherwise known as zucchini. It's a boring vegetable if you ask me, with no real taste of its own. I guess that's a good thing in SOME ways, but if I come across any mushy pieces of courgette in anything I'm eating, I generally set them to one side under the "ick" category, to be avoided. That said, courgettes dont gross me out the way eggplant/brinjals/aubergines do.
I had a surfeit of courgettes thanks to one of the guys in the office who has a smallholding and grows his own vegetables. He must be a pretty good farmer, because he brought enough courgettes for everybody in the office to have at least 3-4 each. It must be nice growing your own veg... but it needs time and effort. Lucky for my colleague that he only works part-time, so I guess he's got both.
Anyway, after ratatouille one day (forgot to take pix) and courgette-tomato pasta the next, I still had 2 courgettes left and, frankly, I was getting a bit tired of the darn things.
Then while going through my favourite food blogs (as usual), I suddenly remembered "Chocolate & Zucchini"... and that led me to wonder if courgette cake could really be edible. Well, the only way to find out was to make it - and I stuck by my decision despite the barrage of "bleahs" and yarking noises from my colleagues and family. It was a good decision, as it turned out, because the cake was worth it.
I guess the blandness of the courgettes worked in the cake's favour, because it totally took on the flavours of the cocoa and chocolate chunks - so much so, it was easy to forget that there was actual vegetable matter in the cake. All in all, the best way to use up any extra courgettes, in my opinion.
I didnt frost the cake this time, because I used a nut topping. But next time I make this cake, I think I will split it in two (or bake it in two tins) and sandwich it together with chocolate icing - that would be just perfect, methinks.
Recipe for: Courgette chocolate cake
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup plain cocoa powder (I used Cadbury's)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2-1/4 cups brown sugar (I substituted 1 cup Splenda)
1/2 cup soft butter (I used margarine)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups finely grated courgette (I left the skin on)
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks
For the topping:
1/2 cup mix of chopped nuts (I used hazelnuts, brazil nuts and pecans)
1/4 cup brown sugar - (I prefer not to use Splenda here)
Method:
1. Heat the oven to 180C (350F). Grease a 9" round cake tin and dust with cocoa powder.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
3. In a bowl, beat the butter/margarine with the sugar/Splenda until fluffy and light. Add the vanilla extract.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between additions.
5. Reserving 1/2 cup of the flour-cocoa mix, fold in the rest with the egg mixture. The batter will be very thick and difficult to handle, but dont be tempted to add any extra moisture.
6. Once the flour has been incorporated well, toss the grated courgettes and the chocolate chunks with the reserved 1/2 cup flour, then fold it all in. The moisture from the courgettes will make the batter easier to handle.
7. Transfer the batter to the greased and floured baking tin and smooth the top.
8. Mix the topping ingredients together and sprinkle evenly over the top of the cake.
9. Bake for 40-50 minutes or till done (check by inserting a tester or toothpick in 2-3 places to make sure).
10. Take the cake out of the oven but leave it in the tin for 20 minutes. Then unmould and cool completely on a wire rack.
This cake can be split and iced, if desired, and it's also lovely served with chocolate or vanilla icecream.
