Dhokla recipe


If you read my previous post here, you know the basic steps to make dhokla - mix chickpea flour with yogurt, let it sit and ferment, add minced ginger, chillies, cilantro, and then steam the batter. You also know that adding Eno means you dont have to wait for the fermentation process. Since eno is used to add air bubbles to the batter, you no longer need to rely on sour yogurt to ferment the batter. Prior to eno days, we always added yogurt to the batter but eno made it possible to eliminate yogurt and just make the batter with water. I started to make dhoklas both ways - sometimes with yogurt, sometimes without. But I was never sure of the difference in the taste in the two methods. Last weekend we had some friends visiting us in the evening and I decided to make two batches- one with yourt and another one without. This gave me opportunity to taste them one after another... while I have still not picked a favorite in terms of taste, I definitely liked the one without yogurt!

Ingredients
1.5 cups chickpea flour
1 tablespoon cream of wheat (sooji coarse)
salt
1 teaspoon minced green chillies (optional)
1 tablespoon minced ginger (optional)
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro (optional)
1/4 - 1/2 cups yogurt (optional)
1 teaspoon eno
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1-2 green chillies sliced (i used red)
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon sugar

Steps
1. Take a few drops of oil and rub it inside the container you will use for steaming. I use my 8 inches round metal container.
2. Add 1.5 -2 cups of water in a larger pot that can hold the steaming container and put it on medium/high heat.
2. In a different bowl, add chickpea flour, sooji and salt. Add yogurt if using. Add enough water and mix the mixture to a smooth batter (pouring consistency).
3. Add minced chillies, ginger and cilantro to the batter.
4. Add Eno and quickly mix into the batter. The batter will become airy. There is no time to loose now.
5. Pour the batter into prepare container and put it inside the larger pot on the stove.
6. Cover the pot with a lid and let it steam.
7. The batter will take 10-12 minutes to cook. Insert small kitchen knife in the cooked mixture and it should come out clean if the mixture is cooked.
8. Take out the container and let it cool.
9. Add sugar and lime juice to 2 cups of water.
10. In a small frying pan, heat the oil.
11. Add mustard seeds to oil. when let it splutter for few seconds.
12. Add sliced green chillies and let it cook in hot oil for few seconds.
13. Pur sugar lime mixture in the hot oil and bring it to boil. Turn off the heat.
14. When Dhokla is cooled down, cut with a sharp knife into 1 inch cubes.
15. Add the spiced, sugar lime mixture to the top of dhokla and let the dhoklas seep.
16. Take out dhokla pieces and pour the remaining liquid on top covering all the pieces evenly.
17. Serve with cilantro chutney. Enjoy!

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