Mamta's Kitchen

Dhokla - 3, Mung Dal & Gram Flour Savoury Steamed Cakes

Dhokla, Moong Dal aur Besan ka

Reeta Kumar

IndianMainSnackStarterVegetarian

Dhokla is a kind of savoury steamed cake that is made from a fermented batter, made of various types of lentils, rice, chickpea flour and even bread. It comes from Gujarat region of India originally. These days, it has become a common snack all over India. Because it is steamed, it is low in fat. Serves 6. Also see Chat Selection.

Pictures from Abha Gupta

Ingredients

  • For the Dhokla

  • 1 cup moong/mung dal with or without skin (washed) skin

  • 2 tsp. gram flour or besan

  • 2 green or red chillies

  • 1 tbsp. yoghurt or dahi

  • 1 tbsp. sugar

  • 2 tsp. fruit salt (like ENO from a chemist Indian grocers) or baking powder

  • A pinch of asafoetida powder or hing powder

  • Salt to taste

  • A wok & a thali/dhokla dish or a steamer

  • For tarka:

  • 1 tbsp. oil

  • 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds or rai

  • A pinch of asafoetida powder or hing

  • A couple of curry leaves (not bay leaves) broken roughly

  • 1-2 tsp. lemon juice

  • 1-2 green chillies whole but slit on the side

  • Fort garnish (optional):

  • 100 gm. cabbage

  • 100 gm. carrots

  • 1 tbsp. coconut shavings

Instructions

  1. Wash & soak lentil for 2 hours.

  2. Wash and shred cabbage and carrots or grate both finely, keep aside.

  3. Drain water off lentils. Place in a blender/liquidizer, with green chillies and enough water to make a batter consistency. Blend until reasonably smooth. It can have a fine grain.

  4. Add gram flour or besan, yoghurt, asafoetida powder and salt to the blender and give another quick blitz, until all are mixed well. Consistency should be like a thick batter.

  5. Just before cooking, add ENO or another fruit salt or baking powder. Mix well. This gives the dish its sponginess.

  6. Put this mixture in an oiled dhokla thali*

  7. Heat a cup of water in the wok/steamer and place an unturned, small metal bowl (katori) or a trivet at the bottom. Place the dhokla thali on top, close the lid and cook for 7-8 minutes, until it feels spongy to touch. You can cook it in a microwave steamer for 4 minutes at full power,**. When ready, it should be spongy or springy to touch, like a cake.

  8. Remove from steamer and cut into 2 inch squares.

  9. For tarka:

  10. Dissolve sugar in water or lemon juice. Keep aside.

  11. Heat olive oil in a small frying pan or wok.

  12. Add mustard seeds, asafoetida powder, curry leaves and green chillies. Cover, to avoid mustard seeds jumping all over your kitchen, until spluttering stops.

  13. Add sugared water and heat through.

  14. Pour over the Dhokla pieces evenly, so that it trickles down the sponge of dhoklas.

  15. Place in a serving dish.

  16. Decorate with coconut, cabbage and carrots & Serve warm with Green Coriander and Mint Chutney.

Notes

  • *Dhokla thali is a flat metal dish, like a Victoria sandwich cake tin. It should fit inside the wok, on a trivet and you should be able to cover the wok with a tight fitting lid, so that dhokla can be steam cooked. Other types of steamer should also work

  • **There are special, microwave suitable dhokla containers available from Indian grocers where the dhokla dish sits inside another dish containing water, so that dhokla cooks in steam. Water keeps it moist and spongy.

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