Ingredients
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For Dhokla Batter
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2cups Besan (gram flour)
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¾ tsp Salt
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¼ tsp Turmeric
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1cup Water
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½ cup Curd
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2tbsp Sugar (powdered)
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1tsp Green Chilli Paste
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1tsp Ginger paste
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2tbsp Oil
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2tbsp Lemon juice
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1tsp Baking Soda or ENO
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a small sheet Butter paper
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For Tempering
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3tbsp Oil
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3tsp Mustard Seeds (small rai)
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6nos Green chillies
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handful (optional) Curry Leaves
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2cups Water
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3tbsp Sugar
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to taste Salt
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¼ cup Lemon juice
Directions
The state of Gujarat, India is a rich state owing a lot to the fertile pastures that rear cattle. Being a cattle rich state it has milk in abundance and hence a lot of gujarati recipes use milk and milk products.
Esp after making butter what is left is butter milk which is used to make different dishes. One of the best ingredient is besan (gram flour) that goes well with butter milk and many gujarati dishes such as kadi, khandvi and dhokla are made using this combination.
Dhokla is a light, fluffy, aerated vegetarian snack or served as an accompaniment. Dhokla is steamed and is infused with flavoured water. Many different varieties of dhokla and khaman dhokla exist. Khaman is a steamed savoury cake made with chana dal and curd. It is much more dense than a dhokla though of dhokla and khaman dhokla are steamed. A lot of times dhokla is confused with khaman dhokla and vice versa.
Steps
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1
Done
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Before you start preparing the batter get the steamer ready. Add water in the steamer, cover it and bring water to a boil. Alternatively you can place a ring into a kadai and use a lid that covers the kadai completely. |
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2
Done
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For the batter sift gram flour (besan) in a bowl. Sprinkle salt and turmeric on to it. Mix together water, curd, sugar, green chilli paste, ginger paste and oil. Pour ¾ of this over the besan. Whisk the batter in one direction for about 5 minutes. This will make the batter light and fluffy. |
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3
Done
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Mix them gently in one direction and wait for 30 secs. Pour the batter inside the ready mould and place it in the steamer immediately. Cover and cook the dhokla for about 30mins. After 30mins turn off the heat and let the dhokla sit covered in the steamer for 10min. |
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4
Done
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Now carefully remove the mould from the steamer and let it cool a bit (not completely). Run a knife along the sides of the pan and remove the dhokla carefully on to a deep plate or platter. |
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5
Done
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Tips & Tricks while making Dhokla1. Traditionally chaas was used to make dhokla. Gujarat is a fairly rich state and after taking our butter there was chaas left at home which was used to make various dishes like kadi and dhokla. 2. Prepare the dhokla tin and steamer before you start making the batter 3. Make sure you whisk together curd and water and add them in small bursts. You need to whisk the batter for at least 5mins to make it fluffy. Post that give it rest for 5min. 4. Mix the dhokla batter in one direction only, this will make it airy and light. If you try to whisk both clock wise and anti clock wise then the batte won’t rise properly. 5. Add baking soda just before adding the batter to the steamer. Once the baking soda is added whisk it again in one direction till it gets fluffy. 6. It is imp to sieve the flour to make a soft spongy dhokla. Sifting the besan make it lump free and light there by making it easy to mix. 7. You can also add Eno in the place of baking soda to make it fluffy. 8. Dhokla batter has to be thick but pouring. 9. Don’t tap the tin after adding the batter to it as this will cause the air to escape from the batter. 10. Adding more haldi will give it a very dark colour and can give it a light shade of brown. 11. When adding water to dhokla both water and dhokla temp should be warm, neither hot not completely cold. 12.Once you steam it do not open it in between and at the same time once you turn off the heat and let it sit for 5-10 mins. |
