Khaman Dhokla (Steamed Chickpea Flour Savory Cake)

khaman dhokla

Khaman dhokla is a famous Gujarati snack which is steamed, therefore it contains very less oil. It’s a good snack for not just calorie conscious people but for everyone since dhokla is very very tasty.

Recipe of khaman dhokla

1 cup besan (gram flour/chickpea flour)

2/3 cup of water

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ginger-green chilli paste

1 tbsp lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons)

1 tsp Eno fruit salt

1 tsp oil

Tempering (tadka)

1 tbsp oil

100 ml water (1 small cup)

1 tsp mustard seeds (kali sarson)

1 tsp lemon juice

2-3 green chillies- slit vertically

2 tsp sugar

Finely chopped coriander leaves- for garnish

1. Take besan in a bowl and add water little by little mixing with other hand so as to prepare a lump free batter.

2. Add salt, turmeric powder to the batter and let it rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

3. Grease a thali (platter) in which dhokla is to be steamed. Pour 1 glass of water in an outer container and put it on heat. Let it come to rolling boil.

4. In the meanwhile, add ginger-green chilli paste to the batter. In a small bowl, take lemon juice and mix 1 tsp oil and eno fruit salt. Pour this over dhokla batter and mix.

5. Immediately pour this batter on a greased thali. Put a stand or an inverted small bowl in the outer container containing boiling water and place this thali over it. Cover the container with a plate.

6. Let the dhokla steam for 5-7 minutes undisturbed over full flame. Then let it steam for another 15 minutes that is 20 minutes in total. The heat should be high so that lot of steam gets formed. Check by inserting the tip of a clean knife. If nothing sticks to it, dhokla is ready otherwise steam some more.

7. Take out the dhokla containing thali from the container and let it cool for 2-3 minutes. Take out the dhokla from the thali to another plate. Let it cool down, and then cut it in squares or diamonds.

8. For the tadka, heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds and when they pop, add green chillies. After few seconds, add water and sugar. Let it come to boil, turn off heat and add lemon juice.

9. Pour this tadka over dhokla pieces and put the dhokla in the fridge. Let the tempering containing water gets absorbed turning the dhokla soft. Garnish the khaman dhokla with chopped coriander leaves.

Note- 1.The batter should not sit for long after adding Eno fruit salt otherwise dhokla will not rise.

2. Mix eno in the lemon juice first and not directly in the batter.

3. The gas stove should be on high heat or full flame for steaming the dhokla.

4. You can also make dhokla in an idli stand.

5. The tempering should contain water for soft dhokla.

6. The outer container could be a vessel or a kadhai/wok.

7. You can also steam in a pressure cooker with weight (whistle) removed.

8. The dhokla batter should neither be too thick nor thin otherwise dhokla won't come out right.