Gujju handvo goes mod

This zucchini version comes with a salad bed and chimichurri salsa

When an email arrived in our inbox with the subject line - Zucchini Handvo - we raised an eyebrow. Every Gujarati household swears by their own hand-me-down version of the handvo, a vegetable pancake packed with bottle gourd, dals, flour and loads of "adu-marcha" (ginger-green chilli paste) and topped with roasted sesame.

As a kid, my grandmother called it a savoury cake. My favourite part is the crusty, almost-burnt top with toasted sesame that is cut into a fluffy cake inside.

The packaging

Heta Chheda says that her home kitchen menu is made by Not A Chef with an "Obsessive Cooking Disorder (OCD). Chheda started a full-fledged menu last August but only recently began the Healthy Wednesday concept. Her approach is to turn guilty pleasures into healthy dishes. Her pav bhaji is packed with veggies and low fat; she makes a makhana phirni instead of rice, and her sandesh is a parfait. "We all binge on the weekend, but what happens when you want to eat something interesting mid-week? That's when I started making dishes with a fun twist. My handvo has lots of zucchini to replace onions, and bottle gourd, and I pepper it with chilli flakes and oregano instead of the desi ginger-garlic and green chillies paste. I get the authentic flour from the grocery store and soak it in buttermilk overnight," reveals Chheda. Another hit she has concocted is a Desi videshi bowl that shuns the quinoa and uses desi dalia instead to make a Buddha bowl that is packed with tandoori masala chickpeas and served with a labneh.

Mommy trials

The box of three rotund handvo was served on a bed of rocket leaves and cherry tomato salad. A side of chimichurri sauce makes us await the fate of this modified Gujju delicacy. We offer it to our Chief Tasting Officer, our mother, who exudes more excitement than we had expected. "It is handvo; how wrong can one go?" she smiles. We don't reveal the contemporary twists until the plate with a bed of salad, the handvo and chimichurri is served to her. She nods after her first tasting. The coriander-parsley chimichurri is a Eureka moment; it has the green coriander chutney vibe but leaves a playfulness on the palate with the garlic and vinegar, and the sweetness of onions. She adds some khakra to accompany the dip. Usually, handvo is overtly spicy. Heta's version is mild, and the juiciness of the zucchini seals the deal. "It's the same but different," mum assures, adding that the rise is perfect. She's set to introduce the chimichurri in her version at the next family bash. "Aa toh try karvu padse (I'll have to give this one a try)," she reiterates, reading our mind. It's Gujju-guaranteed.

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