Khandvi

Posted On January 17, 2021

Khandvi aka Dhivadi: these are two popular names of this soulful Gujarati snack/dish. This dish has to be on top of the famous Gujarati dishes. Are you a Gujarati food lover? Well, you are here…

What is Khandavi? These smooth, melt in the mouth rolls of chickpea flour aka besan and yogurt batter which is cooked to perfection, tempered with mustard seeds, some cut green chilies, and curry leaves, garnished with coconut powder, and chopped coriander leaves.

This delectable Gujarati snack is one of the tastiest food you can ever eat! The whole plate is such a visual treat and appeals you that you cannot pass the plate without taking one and putting in your mouth!! I beat that leave you to pick another one!! 😋😋

To make the perfect khandvi rolls are considered mastering the cooking skills. So, if you want to taste someone’s cooking skills, ask them to make khandvi rolls! Many people including Gujaratis are scared of making Khandvi/Dahivadi at home. But if you have the correct recipe, trust me you have nothing to be afraid of! You may need to make it a few times as it requires practice and as it says “practice makes a man perfect!!”

So, Lets get to the recipe steps without a delay…

Khandvi is made with the mixture of chickpea flour and yogurt. Make a thin solution of yogurt and water which is also called buttermilk. I prefer the sour yogurt for this recipe. If you don’t have sour yogurt, just add lemon juice to make the buttermilk sour. Make a very smooth batter of chickpea flour and yogurt. This is very important. There should not be any lumps in the batter.

Khandvi appearance: Khandvi are thinly layered rolls. Thinner the better! It is not difficult but tricky to get perfectly thin rolls. If your batter is without any lumps and cook it to the right consistency, you should be able to achieve it. If you cook the batter a little longer, it thickens and making it difficult to spread thin layers. Thick Khandvi rolls taste the same. So, don’t get disheartened. You will get it with the practice.

Another important is to spread the Khandvi batter quickly. If there is any delay in spreading the batter, it becomes thick and making it difficult to spread. Please see the tips if this happens.

Khandvi is a healthy snack and can be made gluten-free and/or vegan. If you want to make Khandvi gluten-free, use wheat free asafetida powder or skip it. You can also make it vegan by using vegan yogurt or just use lemon juice for the sourness.

I have seen my mom making it for so many years. She is a master of it and I have learned it from the very best. I am making this recipe for years. This recipe requires practice. By practice you will know the right consistency of the batter and how to spread the batter quickly. I have included all the tricks in the Tips section that I have learned it from my mom.

How to make Khandvi?

To make the khandvi, take the correct proportion of chickpea flour and yogurt/buttermilk. Its 1 : 3 ratio. Meaning 1 cup of chickpea flour to 3 cups of medium consistency buttermilk. I am including yogurt and water measurements to make the right consistency of buttermilk. I like to add ginger green chili paste in the batter. If you don’t like the taste of ginger, you can totally skip it.

Let’s go step by step:

1. Get all the ingredients ready. Sift the chickpea flour. Take 1 cup (Spooned and levelled) sifted flour in a medium sized bowl.
2. In another bowl, make buttermilk by mixing yogurt with water. Stir well to make smooth buttermilk. If yogurt is not sour add lemon juice to it.
3. Add buttermilk to the chickpea flour little by little. With a wired whisk, keep on stirring and mixing till all the lumps are dissolved and you get a smooth batter. Make sure there are no lumps in the batter. You can also use immersion blender to mix the batter.
4. Add salt, turmeric powder, asafetida, ginger green chili paste to the batter. Mix well.
5. Spread oil on plates or cookie sheets or tray. Alternatively, you can also use heavy duty aluminum foil spread on your kitchen counter.
6. Pour the batter in a heavy thick bottom sauce pan. Keep the flame low. Begin to stir.
7. Keep stirring when the khandvi batter is being heated up. Lumps will begin to form and you have to continuously stir to dissolve them. Use wooden spatula or a heat proof silicon spatula.
8. The batter would thicken up slowly. Keep on stirring. Make sure the batter don’t stick to the bottom of the pan and for that you will have to stir continuously. It may splatter so please take precautions.
9. Do a plate taste to see if it rolls up when batter thickens well. Spread a tablespoon of the batter on a greased plate. Let it cool a bit and then begin to roll. If you are unable to roll, then the batter needs to be cooked more.
10. It took me 15-20 minutes to get the right consistency on a low flame. The timing will vary depending on the intensity of the flame, the thickness and size of the pan. Just do the plate taste mentioned above. When you can form the rolls, batter is ready. If the batter becomes thick, it becomes difficult to spread and you don’t get thin layers in the rolls. In this case, you will get thick layered rolls but it still taste good.
11. Quickly pour about ½ cup of batter on a large plate or cookie sheet and spread thinly & evenly with a spatula. You have to be quick with the remaining batter too. Since even a bit of cooling and the batter becomes likes blob, difficult to spread.
12. Make thin and even layer as possible as you can. If you spread it thick then it will be hard to roll, your roll might even break. So be quick in spreading the batter.
13. Let it cool for 5-7 minutes. Cut into equal size strips.
14. Gently roll each strip tightly. Then place them in a serving tray or plate. If the cookie sheet pan or plate is large, then you will get large rolls. In this case after you finish rolling half, just cut horizontally and make a second roll.
15. Arrange the khandvi rolls next to each other or stack them up neatly in a plate or tray.
16. For tempering, Heat oil and crackle the mustard seeds. Then add curry leaves, green chilies and fry for a few seconds.
17. Add the sesame seeds and when they change color & crackle, pour the hot tempering mixture along with the oil on the khandvi rolls evenly.
18. Garnish it with coconut and coriander leaves.

Optional: Serve khandvi with coriander chutney or coriander mint chutney.

Enjoy!

Tips for making perfect Khandvi:

Here are some things to bear in mind when making Khandvi as per my mom, as well as some tips(from me) to roll your Khandvi thinly and evenly…

• Use immersion blender for a smooth and lump free Khandvi batter.
• To cook the Khandvi batter, use a thick bottom non-stick pan. Keep the flame low. It thickens pretty quickly so stir continuously. It may splatter so please take precautions.
• Use a silicone spatula to stir when cooking the Khandvi batter.
• Consistency of the batter is very important in order to make perfect Khandvi. Almost like peanut butter consistency. Also, you can do a plate taste to see if it rolls up when batter thickens well. Spread a tablespoon of the batter on a greased plate. Let it cool a bit and then begin to roll. If you are unable to roll, then the batter needs to be cooked more.
• You need to work very quickly! Khandvi batter doesn’t wait for you. So don’t divert your attention to anything. It’s very important. Once it reaches the right consistency, you should spread it very quickly. Please grease the foil or plates and keep them ready before you even start cooking the batter.
• Recipes call to grease the surface of the foil or thali you’re spreading the batter. Do this VERY lightly otherwise the batter is going to slide around and clump up. This will make it impossible to spread.
• To spread the khandvi, I use a silicone spatula. It helps to spread the batter as evenly as possible while its still hot. My friend cover the spread batter with a plastic wrap and then use a rolling pin to roll it thin about 1-2mm.
• It may be possible that batter gets thick while spreading and make it difficult to spread thin. I have a solution to this as well. In a small saucepan keep the water hot. Place the Khandvi batter pan on top of the hot water pan. The steam will not let khandvi batter thicken up. (double boiler way)
• Use a pizza cutter to slice your Khandvi rolls. They will come out so much neater than using a knife.
• This is a very traditional Khandvi recipe and uses plain yoghurt but use vegan yogurt or lemon juice if you want to make it vegan. Also, use wheat free asafetida if you want to make gluten free.
• You can serve the Khandvi at room temperature by themselves, with masala chai. as a side dish with your meal or with your favorite coriander chutney.