Khaman Dhokla

Khaman Dhokla is a Gujrati dish that is best served with green chutney that you can make with coriander, mint and curd. It is steamed for cooking and the process of fermentation applies in the cooking.

We use Eno fruit salt to speed up the fermentation process.

All you need:

For dhokla batter

Gram flour (besan)                                 2 cups

Curd                                                      2 cups

Salt                                                        to taste

Turmeric powder                                    a pinch

Green chilli-ginger paste                         1 teaspoon

Oil                                                         1 tablespoon

Lemon juice                                           1 tablespoon

Eno Fruit salt (lemon flavor)                    1 teaspoon

For the tampering

             

Mustard seeds                                        1 teaspoon

           

Fresh coriander leaves, chopped              2 tablespoons

           

Coconut, scraped                                    1/2 cup

Green chillies                                           slit into 2 length-wise

And How We Go About It:

Take Besan in a bowl. Pour curd gradually to avoid lumps.  Add salt and mix well. If you have time, you can leave this mixture for an hour to allow natural fermentation before you proceed with the next step to ensure softer, spongier dhokla.

 Meanwhile, boil water in a steamer and add a pinch of salt to the water.

Now coming back to our dhokla batter, add a pinch of turmeric powder and Eno. Make sure you do not beat the mixture a lot after adding Eno as that will disturb the bubbles. Just churn the entire batter with the help of a wooden spoon slowly. 

Now grease a steaming dish. You can use any flat dish like thali if you don’t have a proper dhokla dish. Pour the batter into the thali and place the dhokla dish in the steamer. Cover and allow 20-25 minutes for steaming.

Insert a tooth pick or a plain knife into dhokla to check if it is set. If the tooth pick comes out clean, your dhokla is just done.

Allow some standing time, this will soften and shrink the edges, allowing easy removal of dhokla from the dish.

Now the most interesting part of the process that is often missed in most recipes books and blogs- Boil one cup water in a pan. Add 1 tablespoon sugar, one tablespoon salt and a small bowl of green chillies. You can also add a few drops of fresh lemon juice. When the sugar dissolves, add 4 cups of cold water in it. Pour this solution in a wider bowl and place the square-cut dhokla pieces or the entire dhokla cake in it. Leave it immersed for half an hour. This will make your dhokla watery and spongy like you get it from the market. You can leave it in salt-sugar solution till you serve it. Before serving, you can prepare the tampering and garnish as explained below.

Preparing the tampering:

Heat oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds and let them crackle. This will only take half a minute. Once done, remove from heat and pour them over dhokla. Garnish with coriander leaves or coconut.