16 May 2016

KHATTA DHOKLA


Khatta Dhokla is my favorite Gujarati appetizer and breakfast dish.. In fact my younger brother and I can have this every day! This delicious melt in the mouth cake can be enjoyed for breakfast, as a side or an appetizer too. Most Indian stores sell ready made dry dhokla flour but I urge you to try making this at home from scratch just once and you will never go back to the store bought poor replica ever again!

Making the dhokla itself doesn't take long but one needs to plan ahead to allow the fermenting and soaking time. If you need to serve dhoklas on Saturday evening you will need to start preparing for it Friday night. You can adjust the spice level to suit your palate. Its perfect snack for the lunch box or when travelling too. 

Ingredients:

Urad Dal, 1 cup
Rice, 1 cup
Buttermilk, 1 cup
Green Chili Paste, 1 tbsp
Ginger Paste, 1 tbsp
Eno, 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil, 2.5 tbsp
Black Pepper, 1 tsp
Jaggery Powder/Sugar, 1 tsp

Procedure:

1. Clean and soak the urad dal and rice in two separate bowls for about 6 hours. 




2. After 6 hours, grind the rice to a coarse mixture and urad dal into a smooth paste. We want to batter to be of the cake batter consistency. You can use the buttermilk to grind the dough.



3. Mix both the ground rice and urad dal together. Add ginger and green chili paste and salt. Mix this well and allow it to ferment for another 6-8 hours.



4. After 6-8 hours the batter is ready. Add in the jaggery powder. You can use the dhokla cooker or a large pan that would fit your dhokla tray and start boiling some water in it. We will divide the batter into two parts as we dont want to add eno to the entire batter and have it go flat while we wait for one tray to steam. Add eno to one of the two batter bowls and mix lightly.




5. Grease the dhokla tray with oil and pour the above prepared batter into this tray. Sprinkle some black pepper or red chili powder on the batter and steam it for 18- 20 minutes on medium heat. 




6. After about 20 minutes, remove the tray from the pan or dhokla cooker and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes cut it into triangles and remove it onto your serving dish. 



7. Take a small sauce pan and heat it on medium low heat. Once hot, add in 2 tbsp of oil (for both trays of dhokla). Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. Turn of the heat and pour this over the dhoklas. 




8. We enjoy the dhoklas as is but you're welcome to serve them with fresh coriander chutney or red chili and garlic chutney!



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