Handvo is a traditional Gujarati savory cake made with rice, lentils, and lots of vegetables like bottle gourd, fenugreek leaves, and carrots. Spiced with fresh ginger and green chilies, tempered with mustard seeds, sesame seeds, and dried red chilies. This wholesome dish can be enjoyed as a meal by itself or with a side of pickle or chutney.

Recipe has been updated to include Instant Pot version of this recipe!
I first learned how to make Handvo 12 years ago, when my older son was a baby. We had a nanny who took care of him and cooked amazing meals for us. She would make Handvo at least once a month and I absolutely enjoyed every last bit of it.
I loved it so much that after she was no longer working for us, I called her one day to get the recipe. I have since made it many times and as much as it needs a bunch of ingredients, it is a no-fail recipe and so worth all the time and efforts. The key ingredient in this recipe is the dudhi/lauki/bottle gourd that gives the cake a super moist texture.
Variations
- There are 2 ways of making it. First is a quick method where you simply soak the handvo flour in yogurt, oil, and water overnight. The second method is to soak the rice and 3 types of lentils for 6-8 hours, grind them, and then let the dough ferment overnight. In this recipe, I am using handvo/ondhawa flour that is sold in Indian grocery stores.
- I love adding lauki, carrots, and methi to handvo but you can switch up your veggies by using zucchini or spinach.
Process
Here is a step by step recipe. For a printable recipe card and ingredients scroll down to the recipe card:
Step 1: Prep the veggies for handvo. Peel and grate the bottle gourd and carrots. Prepare the methi leaves by taking only the leaves and discarding the thicker stem. Wash few times and then chop finely.
Step 2: Tempering and batter. Make tempering by heating oil. Add mustard seeds and once they start spluttering, turn the heat off, add sesame seeds and dried red chilies. Add all the ingredients in the batter and mix well.
Step 3: Bake. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking pan by greasing all the sides and the bottom. Add baking soda to the batter and mix well. (Note - this should be done just before you are ready to pour the batter into the cake pan). Pour the batter into the cake pan, I used a springform pan, but a bundt cake pan or any baking dish works well. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, checking after the first 25 minutes. For my oven, it takes exactly 25 minutes and then I broil for the last 5 minutes to get a crispy browned top
Let it cool for 20 minutes and then take it out of the baking pan.
Serving
Handvo can be served warm or at room temperature for breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner. I love to pair mine with some pickle and ginger tea for breakfast. Handvo can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to a week. I like to cut mine into smaller pieces and then reheat each piece for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave. Handvo makes for a perfect potluck, picnic, or travel food.
Here are some drinks that go well with Handvo:
- Fresh Pomegranate Juice - A sweet and healthy drink made from the pomegranate arils
- Ginger Tea - Classic British tea with a spicy kick of fresh ginger
- Mango Lassi - Smooth and creamy yogurt drink with rich and flavorful aromatic mangoes and saffron
- Mulled Apple Cider - Spiced drink scented with warm flavors of cinnamon and cloves
- Rose Faluda - An ice cream float with rose syrup, cool sweet basil seeds, thin noodles, and chilled milk
Here are some other recipes similar to the Handvo that I know you will love:
- Rava Dhokla - Savory, soft steamed semolina cake lightly spiced with ginger, chilies with a tempering of mustard and sesame seeds
- Muthia - Mixed vegetable casserole cooked in earthy spices, ginger, and chilies
- Kothimbir Vadi - A spicy cake loaded with fresh cilantro, chili, and garlic
- Aloo Chaat - Easy appetizer with spiced potatoes, sweet & tangy chutneys, and lightly sweetened creamy yogurt
- Sabudana Vada - Healthy no-fry spicy tapioca and potato fritters
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Oven Recipe
Recipe
Handvo {Spicy Rice and lentils cake}
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 2½ cups handwa flour
- ⅓ cup plain yogurt or non-dairy yogurt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1½ cup warm water
Tempering
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ teaspoons mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 2 dried red chilies optional
Vegetables
- 3 cups bottle gourd peeled and grated
- 1 cup carrots peeled and grated
- 1½ cups methi leaves finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger grated
- 4 green chilies minced
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- salt to taste
Other Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Mix all dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl and keep in warm place for 6-8 hours.
- Make tempering by heating oil in a small sauce pan. Add mustard seeds and once they start spluttering, turn the heat off, add sesame seeds and dried red chilies.
- Add the lauki, carrots, methi, ginger, green chilies, sugar, turmeric, and salt to the dough. Pour over the tempering and mix well.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking pan by greasing all the sides.
- Add baking soda to the batter and mix well. Pour the batter in the cake pan, I used a spring foam pan but a bundt cake pan or any baking dish works well. Garnish with sesame seeds from part IV on top.
- Bake for 30-45 mins, checking after first 25 minutes. For my convection oven it takes exactly 25 mins and then I broil for the last 5 mins to get a crispy browned top.
Nutrition
Instant Pot Handvo Recipe
Recipe
Instant Pot Handvo
Ingredients
Part I: Dough
- 1.5 cups handvo flour available in Indian stores
- ¼ cup plain yogurt or non-dairy yogurt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ¾ cup warm water
Part II: Vegetables
- 1.5 cups peeled and grated bottle gourd
- 1 cup peeled and grated carrots
- 1 cup methi leaves chopped
- ½ tablespoon ginger grated
- 2 to 3 green chilies minced
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- kosher salt to taste
Part III: Tempering
- ½ tablespoon oil
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ tablespoon brown sesame seeds
- 1 to 2 dried red chilies optional
Part IV: Final Ingredients
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ tablespoon brown sesame seeds
Instructions
- Prepare a 7-inch cake pan by greasing the bottom and the sides.
- Mix all ingredients from part I in a large bowl and keep in warm place for 6-8 hours.
- Make tempering by heating oil in a small pot. Add mustard seeds and once they start spluttering, turn the heat off, add sesame seeds and dried red chillies.
- Add all the ingredients from Part II and the tempering to the dough. Mix well.
- Add 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot insert.
- Add baking soda to the batter and mix well. Pour the batter in the cake pan. Garnish with sesame seeds from part IV.
- Cover the cake pan with aluminum foil. This will prevent from any steam/water from getting in the handvo.
- Place the cake pan on the trivet, carefully put the trivet with the cake pan in the Instant pot.
- Close Instant Pot lid with pressure value to sealing. Cook on Manual(Hi) for 30 mins followed by NPR.
- Open Instant Pot and carefully take out the trivet with the handvo.
Notes
- Broil in the oven for 5 minutes to get a crispy browned top.
- Instead of using Handvo flour you can also soak ½ cup rice and ½ cup mixed lentils. Grind and then allow the batter to sit for 6-8 hours or overnight.
- Vegetables used in part II can vary - You can substitue zuchinni or cabbage for dudhi.
Check out HANDVO recipes from of my FAV Indian chefs for variations of this recipe:
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NoPlateLikeHome.com says
Achaea, I used to work in IT also. What was your role? I was a BSA and QA tester. I miss it sometimes but am happy to be home with my little boys. This recipe looks good and healthy.
Archana says
Thank you Joanne! I work as a sustaining engineer supporting process manufacturing software. Love my full time job as well blogging! So glad to have met you, love your blog.
NoPlateLikeHome.com says
Also, your pix are great!
Archana says
Thank you Joanne.
gottaloveridgewood says
Amazing. Will try making it this weekend and let you know how it turned out.
Archana says
Thank you Uma! Would love to know how you like it.
Sandhya says
Excellent detailed recipe and photos Archana! I love handvo too and your pics are making me hungry 🙂
Archana says
Thank you Sandhya!
The City Diary says
Archana, could you please send over some of the leftovers to Pune? 😀 The pictures are very tempting.
I would really love to see you try your hand at Bengali cuisine too, that way I will get to learn and keep the husband happy. 🙂 I tried making aaloo posto today, let's hope everyone likes it.
Archana says
Thank you! Wish I could send some over for you.. I would love to try Bengali cuisine. How did your aloo posto turn out? I am googling that next 🙂 as i am not familiar with lot of Bengali foods.
The City Diary says
My posto turned out fine. Although, I should warn you that it has a peculiar taste that not everyone enjoys, since it contains a lot of khus khus. The online recipes will tell you not to put onions, but here at home we do.
Our recipe:
(Serves 4)
Take 4tbsps khus khus (poppy seeds) and soak them in water for 45 minutes. grind it into a fine paste (better if you do it in silpatta or khalbatta)
Take 3 tbsps mustard oil and heat it on a high temp.
Put paanch fodan and let it pop.
Add 3 cut onions and 4 green chillies, saute till onion becomes red.
Add a little bit of turmeric and salt (I also add a little bit of red chilli, but that's not a part of the real recipe.
Add the potatoes and khus khus paste.
Add half a glass of water and let it cook.
The consistency should be semi dry, serve with plain rice and moong/urad dal; along with aaloo bhaja (i failed in making this, but you can give it a shot).
Archana says
Thank you! Wow your home recipe looks amazing. Can't wait to try it out.
Sudhir Chauhan says
lovely colors...... very tempting.......
Archana says
Thank you Sudhir!
The Cooking Spoon says
I'm pinning this. Sounds so amazing.
Archana says
Thank you!
Foodeva Marsay says
A Delectable Looking treat, yummy
Archana says
Thank you Marriam!
srividhya says
Very nice Archana. This is in my todo list for a long time. Need but that flour. Great share.
Archana says
Vidhya, you can also make this with soaking lentils and rice. No special flour needed.
Antonia says
This looks delicious! Such a colorful and healthy treat!
Archana says
Thank you Antonia! This is one flavor packed recipe.
annika says
I have a very similar recipe... yours looks amazing!
Archana says
Thank you Annika! This is my favorite savory cake.
Khadija "dishdessert" says
I liked your blog, good article, I invite you to my blog:
http://dishdessert.wordpress.com
Archana says
Thank you Khadija!
Bella says
This looks amazing! I will be trying this recipe out this weekend. Do you think I could substitute brown rice and quinoa for some of the white rice (I will be making the batter from scratch). Also would an 8x8 square baking dish work for the quantities listed? Thank you so much ☺️
Archana says
Hi Bella! So excited to hear that you are making this. Yes you can substitute brown rice and quinoa for some rice. Also 8x8 baking dish will be perfect! Let me know!!
Neela says
What kind of cake pan do you recommend?
Non stick, Pyrex or ??
Thx
Archana says
I would recommend a metal/aluminum cake pan.
Neela says
Sorry, I miss saying my question is about Handvo recipe you have for IP.
Thx
Archana says
Hi Neela, yes for IP also a metal cake pan works best. 7” pans fit well in a 6-qt IP
Daisy says
Does the dough need to be out or in the fridge.
Archana says
Out at warm a place
Daisy says
Hi Archana. I made it today in the IP. It came out excellent. My first time making it. I don't usually like it as it is dry, but this was moist. However, i couldn't get the beautiful color like yours. I did broil but at 450 and almost on the middle shelf for fear of it drying out. Is that why? Wish I could add a picture.
Archana says
Hi! I usually broil on top shelf just for few mins, but overdoing can dry it out. Email me the picture. Sorry don’t have the feature of adding photo to the comments yet.
Daisy says
Not sure how to email you.
Archana says
Archana.mundhe@gmail.com
pym says
wonderful wonderful recipe.
i've got such a big bag of ondhwa flour left having tough time getting any google quieries aas to what else can i use this flour for? and recipes. if you know please let me know or better yet some recipes
thanks
Archana says
I am SO glad you liked the handvo. You can make dhokla with the same flour. I do not have a published recipe but if you search there will be a few.
pym says
thank you for reply so only handvo or dhokla?
also do they have a sweet handvo recipe rather than the spice handvo>
Archana says
I have not made sweet handvo but sounds interesting 🙂
Sonia says
Hello Archana! I tried this in the IP and it turned out great. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. I had a question , I was thinking of getting a spiralizer but unable to make up my mind. I want to know if a spiralizer would work well for this handvo recipe and any other Indian recipes like muthiya, Raita, etc that requires shredding.
Your feedback will be much appreciated
Archana says
Hi Sonia, Thank you of your feedback. I am glad you enjoyed the handvo. I would not recommend spiralizer for Indian dishes like muthiya, handvo or raita. What you need is a grater and I love my food processor with grater blade. Hope this helps.
sajida Arsiwala says
Hi Archana
I have never made handvo and want to try with a mixture of rice and lentils. When I grind them, what should be the consestency of the batter? Also, when you say ferment it after grinding for 6-8 hours I assume it should be mixed with the yogurt first, right?
Thanks so much
Archana says
Consistency of cake or idli batter. And ferment with yogurt in it. Hope this helps.
Vikash Agrawal says
I’m amazed, I must say. Seldom do I come across a blog that’s equally educative and amusing,
and without a doubt, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The issue is
something not enough people are speaking intelligently about.
Now i’m very happy that I stumbled across this during my hunt
for something relating to this. http://www.signaturefooddiaries.com/handvo-vegetable-cake-rutal-mahajan/
Archana says
Thank you for your kind words. I will forward to reading your blog.