There are two ways to cook Dhokla. Both have very different tastes. I will show you both today.
Growing up in a military family, the postings ensured that we as a family moved around quite a bit across the country. Gujrat a province on the western cost of India has many pleasant memories. In Gujrat apart from culture, history and nature the thing i liked the most was food. As a vegetarian it was heaven to be in a province where the cuisine is vegetarian.
One of the items i used to love was Dhokla. Dhokla is a dish that is found mainly in Gujarat and adjacent provinces. It is made with fermented batter made out of rice and split chickpeas. Depending on the amount you consume, dhokla can be breakfast, main course, side dish or a snack.
While this is predominantly a dish for the taste buds,it is one of the 'good' ones. It's low on calories and light on the stomach. One can have few without putting on weight.
I like to use yoghurt in my dhokla, however you can do without it as well. Now this is a two in one recipe. I have given you the process for a Sweet Dhokla and one for a Salty and Spicy Masala Dhokla. They both taste very different from each other. In fact once the primary breads are ready you can pretty much use any flavour or tempering of your choice depending on which part of the world you are from. It's the technology that's important.
So there are two recipes for you :)
So let's get to it.
Ingredients
1 cup gram flour (Besan)
1/2 cup yoghurt
1.5 cups water
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp cooking oil
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 spoon Green-Chilli-Ginger paste (Optional)
1 tsp mustard seeds
15 curry leaves
2 red dry chillies/ chilli flakes. (Masala Version)
1/2 cup grated coconut
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp baking soda
Sweet Version
3/4th Cup water
2 tsp sugar
10 Curry leaves
Mustard Seeds
5 Green Chillies Cut vertically
The Recipe
Take gram flour in a bowl. Add the yogurt and approximately one cup of warm water and mix. Avoid lumps. Add salt and mix again.
Leave it aside to ferment for three to four hours. When gram flour mixture has fermented, add turmeric powder and green chilli-ginger paste.
Mix. Heat the steamer. Grease a bowl. In my case i use Idly containers as they are perfect for steaming. You can also use a small size cake baking bowl or any metal container that can be used for steaming. The shape is irrelevant since you will anyway cut up the dhokla before serving.
In a small bowl take lemon juice, soda bicarbonate, one teaspoon of oil and mix. Add it to the batter and whisk briskly. Pour batter into the greased thali and place it in the steamer.
Cover with the lid and steam for ten minutes.
When a little cool, cut and keep in a serving bowl/plate.
Upto this point the recipe is common to both dishes. At this point depending on what you are looking for you can choose. We will go with the standard masala version first.
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to crackle, add the curry leaves, red chilli and salt if needed.
You can now add the dhoklas into the pan.
Saute for a couple of mins.
Serve in a bowl.
Serve, garnished with coriander leaves or grated coconut. Enjoy :)
Sweet Version
Mix the sugar in the water and set aside.
Heat a pan with 1 tbs oil. Add the mustard seeds.
As the seeds crackle add the green chilli and curry leaves.
Add the sweet water. Bring to a boil. Get it into a thickish consistency.
Pour over the dhokla and serve in a bowl. Kids love this.
There the Dhokla is ready. It's quite a handy recipe to have. If you are pressed for time and want to cook up something interesting and tasty. Dhokla is the way to go. And as most of our recipes. The adults enjoy it and the kids love it.
Hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as i enjoyed making it. If you wish to know about Indian dishes do reach via the comments and i will try and share with you...
