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Khandvi deconstructed.. Chickpea flour Spaghetti & Pappardelle Pasta


Khandvi may well be my all time favorite noshing 'tiffin' tea time snack & quite possibly  because it can be pretty intimidating at first sight. a beautiful, almost impossible vision to behold, gossamer thin, jellied strips of chickpea flour & sour yogurt, tiny miniature savory Swiss rolls that delightfully wobble in your mouth before delicately disintegrating & gliding  down your throat, making way for... the next little morsel!


Of all the states in the Indian Union, the state of Gujarat is probably in the forefront when it comes to the most delectable selection of amuse bouches & snacks, referred to in the native Gujarati language as Farsaan. The cuisine is predominantly vegetarian and the dishes are characterized by the addition of sugar or jaggery (unrefined cane sugar with the molasses). This results in a perfect blend of savory & sweet with just the right touch of heat from a tempering of green chilli.


Of the long list of Farsaans in Gujarati cuisine, I'd definitely place khandvi at the top of the difficult list. Its a labor of love & boy does one have to toil to master it! & what for?, it practically disappears before you have a chance to arrange these gorgeous rolls on a plate.

The traditional version is made by cooking down a thin mix of chickpea flour with tart 'past its prime' yogurt and seasoning. (the trick here is to ensure that its absolutely lump free &  silky with a flow reminiscent of those ultra slick commercials for wall paint. In other words, its easier said than done). This slick mix is then poured onto a greased tray and swirled around to get a thin uniform coating. Upon cooling, the layer is carefully rolled and cut into inch long pieces. The dish is finished with a tempering of mustard, grated coconut & sesame and garnished with chopped cilantro.

I still wince at the memory of my first attempts to 'Panfusine' the dish over a year ago. It was in those days when I believed that agar could solve all problems (as an insurance against my lack of 'khandvi rolling' skills). Blended the chickpea, yogurt, salt seasoning and added some dissolved agar to the mix and spread it out. The sheet set well & even rolled up beautifully. I should have quit while I was ahead, but NO,  the  Ferran Adria wannabe in me decided to try & toss it into a pappardelle like pasta with the tempering. So in went the strips of khandvi over the tempering in the hot skillet. A minute later, all that was left was this viscous thick sludge. The ^&%&^ agar had dissolved again, obliterating all traces of form.. Lesson well learned. And NO, I did not succumb to trying to incorporate meat glue for version 2.0 ( It was too expensive).

Of all my Panfusine dishes, this is probably the one that has undergone the maximum testing. I knew that the concept would work fine while working on another dish the Gatte ke pulao. I tried using an extruder press to squeeze out the gatta dough into the water and it worked great, held its shape w/o disintegrating. (the spaghetti & the thin ribbons passed. The star shape flunked the test).

My antique bell metal  extruder presses with the plates

Next was to determine exactly how much time the pasta needed to boil for..  the optimal time for the spaghetti was 10 minutes while the ribbons cooked a bit faster at 8 minutes.



 I tried to add lemon juice to the boiling water to see if it helped to hold up the delicate shape better. It definitely did, but the pasta became tough & chewy ( the surface proteins precipitated in the acidic medium & toughened up, preventing the interior of the pasta from cooking well), so that was a no no.
So, here it is, a westernized version of the traditional khandvi.

( If it weren't such a lame & politically incorrect moniker, I'd happily have christened it the 'Sonia Gandhi' Pasta.. ( the Italian- Gujarati connection.. get it?? AARGH fuhgged aboud it!))

Chickpea spaghetti / Papardelle pasta. 

You need:


1 cup Chickpea flour (besan)
a pinch of Asafetida
1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/8 teaspoon chile powder (optional, if you prefer an extra spicy pasta) 
 Salt to taste ( under salt the dough, the pasta will be boiled in salted water)
1 tablespoon Sesame oil
4 tablespoons Greek yogurt

3 pints water for boiling the pasta
1 tablespoon oil & a generous teaspoon of sea salt.

Sift the  dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add the oil and one table spoon of the greek yogurt. Using a silicone spatula, mix the ingredients together, adding the remaining Greek yogurt in installments. Fold and combine until the flour turns into a thick sticky, tacky dough (Use your hands to mix at your own risk. There will be more dough sticking to your fingers than the bowl). Heat  the water & bring to a boil, adding the salt & oil. In the meantime, prepare the dressing as described below.

For the seasoning.

2 tablespoons Sesame oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1-2 green birds eye chili (as per personal preference) OR
1/2 jalapeno de-seeded & finely minced
 Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 an orange (optional)
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
2 tablespoon fresh grated coconut

Combine the lemon & optional orange juice in a small mixing bowl. Heat the sesame oil in a skillet. WHen it begins to shimmer, add the mustard seeds & allow to sputter. Add the sesame seeds followed by the minced green chile. Once the sesame seeds begin to pop & just barely turn color, remove from heat & allow to cool completely. Add the sesame, chile & mustard oil to the citrus & whisk into an emulsion. add the cilantro and set aside until the noodles get done.





Using an extruder press, press out the dough directly into the boiling water. The dough will first sink & then float. Adjust the heat to a gentle boil and allow the pasta to cook. (8 minutes for the pappardelle ribbons, 10 minutes for the spaghetti).



Remove the noodles with a spider skimmer & gently shake off any excess water. Add the noodles to a large mixing bowl and drizzle the citrus sesame dressing. Toss gently to coat the noodles. Transfer to a plate and garnish with the shredded fresh coconut. Serve immediately.



Bon appetit!.


Comments

  1. Niv, you are a genius!! This is brilliant, I also happen to love khandvi but I am so tired by the time I make it that I hardly enjoy eating it. This certainly makes the job easier, and sounds like a wonderful meal. Because khandvis are so small you can never have enough, but this way we can up the volume and make more. I am going to try this tomm and will let you know how they turned out. Can't wait for tomorrow.

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  3. Niv I have tried the Khandvi in ribbon form and its just the inspiration from the gatte ki subzi + Khandvi. Even today I was thinking to make it like squares and season them ..but me lazy :( ended up making something else. But you know the spaghetti idea is tooooooooooooo good and certainly I am going to make this some time. Will let u know for sure :) cannot wait to try :):)By the way I am way too tempted before my sleep:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The first time I attempted this pasta, I scarfed it down with some traditional guja
      rati khadi.. (kind of like a fettucine sauce coating the pasta.. It was great!)

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  4. Was waiting for your khandvi twist (after your FB note) and am amazed with the same! Brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sanjeeta.. I took the liberty of linking your fabulous farsaan post. Thanks so much!

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  5. This is truly creative! I am so gonna give this a try.

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  6. I love this.....simply genius Niv.

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  7. That is genius, Ms Ferrana Adriana :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL!! Senor Adria is gonna let the bulls loose on me!

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  8. Love this. My son-in-law is fond of khandvi. Next time, I will try and serve him this 'twist' - amazing invention.

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  9. I love this. Thank you for your hard work on it!

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  10. Nicely done :-). Please collect the award awaiting you at Square Meals

    Aparna

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  11. When it comes to fusion with a traditional twist - you are indeed a genius!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Truly. You are a genius. Who would have ever thunk this ?

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  13. wow. brilliant. amazed with all those experiments you did!

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  14. Fantastic Niv! Khandavi is one of my all-time fav dishes but have never managed to get it right and you deconstructed it alright!!! A virtual thank you hug for this brilliant post!

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is really interesting…
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  16. Niv this is brilliant...what a fab idea and it looks awesome!

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  17. Hi Niv, First time commenting here, have to say this is a brilliant brilliant recipe. I have a qn, for 1 cup of chickpea flour all we need is 4 Tbsp of yogurt? no water at all? should the dough before pressing from the extruder be like a chapatti dough? or will it be stickier? i am planning to make this tonight. Please clarify. Thanks!

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  18. Hi Bin, Yes, there is simply no water added at all and the yogurt is the thicker strained greek variety (any extra water and the dough runs the risk of disintegrating in the boiling water. The dough tends to be of similar consistency, but a LOT tackier than the conventional roti dough in that its practically impossible to make a smooth ball (due to the high protein content nature), which is why I specifically advise using a spatula to mix the chickpea flour & yogurt instead of your fingers.. IT gets REALLY sticky & messy on the fingers!

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  19. I am a huge fan of agar and more so of xanthan gum powder. I think the xanthan gum powder might have helped out a bit more. I use this for glossy sauces and gravies (even in my aviyal, to help prevent the gravy from breaking apart or gettinig watery, as sometimes yogurt does.

    This recipe fascinates me and makes me think of dhokla... relatively the same ingredients, just presented entirely differently. Yet another of your recipes I'm going to try. SOON!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Maven.. I've never tried working with xanthan gum.. I'd love any tips you can give me on how to start working with it!

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