Back home and making some Khaman Dhokla

By
Prerna Singh
-

First of all sorry for being MIA for so long. Was taking it a little easy for a while. First we were out for a tiny vacation with one of our family friends who now have left for India for good and so we wanted to spend some time with them and then after a couple days I and my little one flew to California to meet few close friends who had not seen her and were dying to meet. Both the trips were awesome.

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Took my little monster to the aquarium for the first time. It was such a delight to see her looking at those colorful fishes with her big brown eyes wide open. Gosh! she’s beautiful.

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Aimlessly walking on the streets taking some pictures.

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Shopping & eating a lot of street food.. I mean a LOT of it!

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It was pure fun!

But now after traveling across the country and having loads of fun we’re back to our nest again and boy does it feel good to be back home?? This is the first weekend when the whole family was together again after the break so I thought of making a nice traditional breakfast. Made some Khaman Dhokla which is basically a Gujrati dish and a common Indian street food too.

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This was the first time I tried making it after marriage and without my mom’s supervision so you can say it has been yearsss so I was anxious about how its going to taste but it turned out good. Good enough that I gathered the courage to share it with you.

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Ingredients:

For Batter:
Besan/Chickpea flour – 1 1/2 cups
Yogurt – 1/2 cup
Water – 1/2 cup
Baking Soda – 3/4 tsp

For seasoning to be mixed to the batter
Oil – 1 tbsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Sugar – 1 tbsp
Citric acid – 1/4 tsp
salt to taste

For tempering
Mustard Seeds – 1 tbsp
Green thai chilli – 1-2 (or add more if u like it hot!)
Cilantro leaves – just for garnish
Heeng- just a pinch
Little water + Oil(around 1/4 cup together with a ratio 4:1)

Method:

Beat yogurt first and thin it out adding water. Now take besan and start adding the liquid into it beating thoroughly making sure we don’t leave any lumps. The paste should be thick enough almost like pancake batter. Stir in the baking soda and set it aside to rise for about 1 hr.
After an hour or so when the batter has risen add the rest of the ingredients into the batter. Mix everything together.
Now we need to prepare a vessel for steaming. Best would be a pressure cooker but if you don’t have that you can use a thick bottom pot which has a tight lid with an opening for the steam to escape. Fill the pot upto 2 inches with water and place a small metal/steal bowl upside down. Bring water to boil.
Transfer the batter into a greased baking dish. Your baking dish will sit on top of the bowl inside the pot of boiling water so make sure the dish is small enough to be placed inside the pot.
Cover the pressure cooker or pot with the lid and let it cook on medium high for about 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn off the heat. Cover it for one more minute, uncover and let it sit for 10 minutes.
Then pour/brush the water oil mixture on top of it. Just like brushing cake with water and sugar mixture before this process makes the Khaman even more moist.
For tadka just heat oil, add heeng and mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds pop add cut green chili. Cook it for 30 seconds and then pour it over the Khaman Dhokla. Garnish with cilantro.
Cut the cake into smaller bite size pieces and serve with green and/or tamarind chutney.

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Prerna Singh
http://www.indiansimmer.com

18 Comments

  1. The dhokla looks really great ,gonna try it todae .Your proper guidance helped me a lot .I’ll soon write the feedback plz do not stop sharing awsm recipes with us . Thnx 4 d recipe dear. 😉

  2. Hello,
    We love your recipes, especially when its on Khaman Dhokla.
    These are so delicious.
    I have always looked at your blog for the various pictures and the way you write.Just Love it!
    You have shared some nice information about Khaman Dhokla in this post.
    The points you mentioned are genuine and perfect.
    The content completely describes about the topic you wanted to portray with us.
    Thanks for sharing such valuable post.

    Regards
    VentairIndia Team

  5. I’m SO sorry your dhokla didn’t come out as you wanted! As per your description I’m guessing the mix was not fermented enough to rise and make the batter lighter to cook evenly all the way through. Fermentation depends on the climatic condition so that might have changed things for you. Try adding a little more Baking soda or use more sour yogurt and let it stay longer to ferment in a warm place. If you see some air bubbles in your batter, then you r sure it has fermented enough. Stir it well and then cook.
    You can even add some yeast (just a pinch) to feremnt it faster. Let me know if that works.

  6. I really love khaman dhokla and tried your recipe exactly the way described above. But alas, it didn’t turn out well. There was a big crack on the top, and the base was really undone. When I tried to steam it for about 10 more minutes to cook the raw base, the color changed to a dark brownish yellow color, but the base was still undone.
    Can you please suggest me where did I go wrong, and what can I do to get it right the next time
    Thanks.

  7. Hi Prerna, I can’t believe I just now stumbled across your blog! (courtesy of White on Rice) I LOVE Indian food and crave it at least once a week. I am loving your blog. Your photography is stunning! Love the light, composition, and your use of textures.

  9. Oh FoodZone! I’m so sorry your dhokla didn’t puff enough. Well! you can use two methods to make your batter rise (1)Use very sour yogurt that helps in the fermentation process and keep it overnight (2) After adding soda whisk it very well,cover the vessel very tightly and keep it in a dark and warm place which can be a preheated and then turned off for a while oven. Let it stay more than an hour. My mom also used to cover the dish of batter with a blanket and keep it in the sun. Try it n tell me how it went. Good luck!

  10. Hi Prerna,

    As I mentioned, I tried the dhokla but unfortunately it did not turn out to be very good. Mine did not puff up like yours. I did a add the baking soda and let it stay for an hour. But one thing I noticed was after an hour, the flour did not rise at all. May be that was the difference. Not sure if the baking soda I added was enough or not. Will try again some other time – may be with lil more baking soda! Do you think setting it aside over the night will help the flour rise?

  11. Hi Prerna,

    First time to your blog. Beautiful pics and amazing recipes. Dhokla looks so delicious.Dhokla is my fav Gujrati dish and we always buy dhokla from our Indian store. i tried to make it at home once and it was a flop and I decided not to try again:) Your recipe and pics are making me try again. I’m trying it now. Will let you know how it turns out.

  12. Hi Prerna, I jumped here via Mansi’s blog. Another Gujarati following here. 🙂 I must say your blog is simply gorgeous with beautiful clicks. Your daughter is so cute and sweet!
    Ah…khaman dhokla…feeling nostalgic now. 🙂 Superb pic of khaman. Would love to come here again. 🙂

  13. It looks beautiful, I am a huge fan of dhokla myself. And above all that, your daughter looks beautiful. How old is she?
    I have a 9-month old myself, and she just pure joy!

  16. @ M- That’s so gracious of you.. Thanks a lot! Will soon be there to accept my award 🙂
    @ A Open Book- Can’t thank you enough for visiting my blog and also for these wonderful comments. Your comments inspire me to do something better.

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