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Sunday, June 14, 2020

Finally! Khaman Dhokla

khaman dhokla recipe thehoggerz.com, dhokla recipe thehoggerz.com
As we all are locked down with our mains, it is really important to normalize things at home especially when there are special days. Celebrating each occasion during this current pandemic make us appreciate the detail of all the things we were missing. Food is that constitutive part in the celebration that simply adds a generous amount of happiness. As yesterday, it was my husband birthday - a thought of making him feel loved and amazing was all I needed. First and foremost because – I hold the word loss in my mouth, it feels full and heavy, all of a sudden our baby nanu died on 9th June 2020 leaving us all into a sphere of sadness, it took to grief. It is hard to lose a loved one, we spent our every moment of life with her – she was a companion knitted with immense love and care. To overcome our complicated grief, I decided to cook Hashim favorite cuisine on his birthday and celebrate his day in a simple way as possible. I have cooked all day long since early morning but with a heavy heart. As, whatever I was picking to prepare the meal some veg elements belonged to Nanu. It was difficult to decide the birthday special menu – hence I skipped burgers with french fries option as she was crazy for french fries. She used to hog 15-20 fries without any break. And maybe that’s why we have taken a pause from eating french fries for a while until we don’t find comfort in sadness.


So it was time to balance the darkness with the brightness. I decided to make masala dosa with dipings, pav bhaji, khaman dhokla and, ofcourse chocolate cake. These are some Indian recipes that I make once in a while to kill my inevitable home sickness and – now my husband loves this food too. We both think that relationships shouldn’t necessarily mean that you have to eat whatever the other half likes, it’s only fair that you should cook and eat what you like, but icing on the cake is when you have a company at the dinner table.
I have already shared the recipes of Masala dosa teamed up with flavorful sambhar and mint aromatic sauce, and butter glazed pav bhaji on my blog, you can bookmark the recipes by clicking on the highlighted link. Today, I will be sharing the quick khaman dhokla recipe that can be prepared anytime without any prior soaking or grinding process and the results are extremely satisfying. They are soft like cotton, sweet but not so sweet. 

Finally! Khaman Dhokla

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves: Depends
Ingredients:
For Khaman Dhokla:
1 cup chickpea flour and 1 tablespoon semolina
1/4 cup curd
1 teaspoon green chili paste
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1½ teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Eno Fruit Salt
1/2 teaspoon salt, or as per the taste
1 teaspoon cooking oil
Water, as needed
For Tempering:
2 tablespoons cooking oil
10 curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
3-4 bullet peppers or green chilies, slit lengthwise and cut into halves
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 pinch Asafoetida
1/3 cup Water
Method:
STEP ONE:
  • We will start by heating up 3 cups of water in a steamer so that as soon as the batter is ready, it is poured directly into the plates otherwise the after effect of dhoklas will be hard.
  • Simultaneously, mix 1 cup chickpea flour, 1 tablespoon of semolina, 1 teaspoon green chili paste, 1 teaspoon ginger paste, 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice, ¼ cup curd, ¾ cup water and salt to taste. Mix everything into a smooth consistency without any lumps.
  • Next, grease those steamer plates with 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and keep aside.
  • In a bowl of dhokla batter, add 1 teaspoon of Eno and mix slowly in one direction for about a minute. Whenever you are adding Eno in dhokla or dosa batter always see to it that you stir it in only one direction either clockwise or anti clockwise.
  • As the size of dhokla batter rises to double – pour it right away into greased plates and don’t fill the plates wholly, leave some space above.
  • Place the plates in steamer and allow it to cook on a medium low flame only so that it gets cooked smoothly from inside.
  • After 12 minutes, insert a tooth pick or fork and check if it comes out clean, if the batter is gooey  – steam for another 5 minutes.
  • Later, safely remove the plates and allow it to cool down. Once it is set at the room temperature, cut it into small square shape using a knife.


STEP TWO:
  • In a nonstick pan, add about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, ½ teaspoon mustard seeds, a pinch of asafoetida and let the mustard seeds crackle a bit. Next, add curry leaves and 3-4 bullet peppers, stir all of it for a few seconds.
  • Do this step gently - slop 1/3 cup water and 1 tablespoon sugar and bring it to boil for a minute or so. Adding sugar doesn’t mean that dhokla will become sweet or dessert version of edible, it will just give an extra amazing balance with spice. Adding sugar is the most essential step in this type of dhokla.
  • As soon as the mixture starts boiling, pour it evenly all over the dhokla, let the tempering sit for a while as this will allow the pieces to soak in the mixture.
  • Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and enjoy it with green mint sauce or just munch as it is because the dhokla cubes will simply melt in your mouth due to its delicate and spongy texture.

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