Sev Khamani is a popular, non fried, delectable Gujarati snack made with Bengal gram (chana dal). It is soft and grainy in texture with a flavorful taste that is balanced of spice, sour and sweet taste from green chili, lemon juice and sugar. It is served with sev (fried gram flour vermicelli) and pomegranate that adds crunch to every bite of the dish. It can be served for breakfast or evening snack or can be packed for a potluck party!!
We were invited with other group of friends at a friend’s place (Dr Puneet SIngh and Dr Neelam Singh) for Holi celebration. It was a potluck and so everyone prepared and brought their special dishes like dahi bhalla, chana dal kachori, hadvo, pav bhaji, chole puri, pakora, rice, pasta, cupcakes, kheer, kesari bhath, etc.
My mother – in -law (Geeta Shah) and father in law (Chetan Shah) are with us here in Sydney. Geeta Shah is an amazing cook and everyone at our home is fond of the delicious sev khamani prepared by her. So for the occassion of Holi I thought of taking Sev khamani prepared by her for the potluck. The sev khamani was loved by each and everyone at the celebration and everyone appreciated her efforts.
Sev Khamani can be prepared in two ways:
- Soak the chana dal for 5-6 hours. Grind the chana dal coarsely. Heat a generous amount of oil in the pan. Add mustard seeds, sesame seeds, asafoetida, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, green chili paste, chopped green chili. Add the chana dal and salt and cook of medium heat till chana dal is cooked. Add sugar, coriander and lemon juice. Mix well and serve the hot khamani garnished with coriander, coconut, sev and pomegranate.
- Soak the chana dal for 5-6 hours. Grind the chana dal coarsely with ginger, garlic, green chili. Let the mixture rest for couple of hours. Now add eno the the batter and steam the batter for 20 minutes. A steam cake is prepared. ( This steamed cake can be served as khaman). Now grate the steamed cake and then cook the grated mixture with the tempering prepared with mustard seeds, sesame seeds, asafoetida, ginger garlic paste, green chili paste, green chili, sugar, lemon juice, water. Mix well and cook for 5 minutes and serve hot garnished with coriander, coconut, sev and pomegranate.
My mother in law prefers making the khamani with the second way. She had made the sev khamani using second method for the Holi celebration. Authentically the sev khamani is prepared using first method. The khamani is soft in texture made using the first method. The khamani made using second method is grainy in texture and hence we at our house preferred the khamani made using the second method.
The secret of the good khamani lies behind the taste. Lots of garlic and oil is added to flavor the khamani and the spice, sour and sweet taste of the khamani is balanced using green chili, sugar and lemon juice.
Friends do try out this delicious recipe and treat your family with some new snack. Please share your feed back with me.
Khao dilse, khilao dilse aur banao dilse….
Sev Khamani
Equipment
- bowl
- mixer grinder
- baking tin or any pan
- steamer
- heavy bottom pan
- spatula
- spoon
Ingredients
- 2 cup chana dal bengal gram
- 6 green chili or as per spice level needed
- 5 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 inch ginger chopped
- 1/2 tsp turmeric haldi
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida hing
- salt as per taste
- 3 tsp fruit salt plain eno (1.5 tsp to make one square pan around 8" diameter)
- 4 tsp water
- 1 tsp oil for greasing the pan
Tempering
- 1/2 cup oil
- 3 tsp mustard seeds rai
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds til
- 3 green chili chopped
- 1/2 tsp asafoetida hing
- 8 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1.5 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1/2 tbsp green chili paste
- 4 tbsp coriander washed and chopped finely
- 2 tbsp dessicated coconut or fresh grated coconut
- 2 tbsp pomegranate seeds
- 4 tbsp sev nylon sev
Instructions
- Wash and soak the chana dal for 5-6 hours.
- Drain the water from the soaked chana dal. Reserve some water for grinding the dal if neccessary. Put the drained chana dal in the mixture grinder. Add chopped ginger, garlic, green chili.
- Crush the dal coarsely in the grinder . Add the reserved water around 1 tbsp if needed to grind and grind the dal to a coarse texture.
- The texture of the ground dal should be coarse as shown.
- Remove the crushed coarse dal mixture into a bowl.
- Add turmeric, asafoetida and salt.
- Mix well. Cover and keep aside for couple of hours.
- Now take half the mixture in another bowl. Add 1.5 tsp of fruit salt (eno) to it. Add 2 tsp of water and mix the mixture gently.
- Pour the batter in the tin ( square 8" x 8") or round deep dish greased with 1/2 tsp of oil. Place the tin in the big pot filled 1/4 th with boiling water (or steamer) and cover and steam for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, the batter in nicely steamed and rise well.
- Remove from the steamer and let it stand for 5 minutes. With the help of the knife lose the edges and unmould. The steamed cake is ready. Let it cool on the wire rack. (The steam cake can be cut into pieces. Pour the tempering made with oil, curry leaves, mustard seeds, green chili, coriander, sugar and water on it and serve it as khaman for breakfast or snack). Once the steamed cake is cooled, grate it with a help of grater or break it into crumbs with your finges. Remove in a bowl and keep aside.
- For the tempering- Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Once the oil is heated add mustard seeds and let them crackle. Add sesame seeds.
- Let both the seeds crackle.
- Add ginger garlic and chili paste and chopped green chilies and saute well.
- Add water. Mix well.
- Add sugar and mix. Cook the mixture till the sugar dissolves.
- Boil the mixture for 5 more minutes.
- Add the grated steamed cake gradually.
- Add the remaining grated steamed cake and mix well.
- Mix the mixture well and add lemon juice.
- Garnish with washed and chopped coriander and mix well. The khamani is ready to serve.
- Remove the khamani in a serving bowl. Garnish with sev (thin fried gram flour vermicelli), pomegranate, desiccated coconut and coriander leaves as shown. The Sev Khamani is ready and can be enjoyed with hot cup of tea or coffee.
Very easy nd tasty recipe, everyone likes its taste, mouthwatering
Thank you so much