Friday, March 7, 2014

White Dhokla


Recently, I was invited to a cookery demonstration of authentic Gujarati dishes by two wonderful Gujarati ladies. While the demo was in process (i.e. steaming and heating was underway), she enlightened us with some tips and some other recipes of Gujarat.
She spoke of this “white” dhokla which later on I learnt that, it is also called as “Khatta” (meaning “sour” in Hindi) Dhokla. We all made a note of this recipe too. I felt that this could be easily named as “Idli” with a twist ! - Because the main batter used in the recipe is the Idli batter (Udad dal and Rice).

People from the south of India can easily try this out as normally idlis are prepared at least once a week in their homes. Incidentally, I had just prepared idly batter and had kept it for fermentation before leaving for the demo !
The next day, before steaming the idlis, I kept aside one cup of the batter to try out this new recipe. Believe me, it turned out super soft and fluffy and delicious. I also shared this with my neighbour who loved it.

So from one idli batter, you can prepare two different dishes – one from Southern India and one from Western India (Gujarat) ! Isn't that wonderful ?

In the meantime, I shall try out the two recipes which was demonstrated and shall put them up in my blog. So watch out for the recipes in my next posts.



Ingredients:

Idli Batter 1 cup
Sour Curd 2 tbsp
Green chilies (chopped) 1 or 2
Ginger (chopped) 1inch piece
Asafetida A pinch
Oil 1 tbsp
Soda 1/4 tsp
Salt As per taste
Crushed pepper 1 tsp




Method:
  1. Take a bowl, add all the above ingredients except crushed pepper and mix it well and keep aside.
  2. Take a greased “thali” / steel plate and pour the above prepared mixture into it and give the plate a gentle shake so that the mixture is evenly spread.
  3. Now sprinkle the crushed pepper on top of the spread mixture.
  4. Lastly, place the plate in a pressure cooker (without the whistle) or a steamer and steam the contents for about 12-15 mins.
  5. Remove and allow it to cool.
  6. When slightly cooled, cut it into squares or diamond shapes and serve as it is or with any chutney of your choice.                                                                                                                                      

Ingredients (except crushed pepper) added
After additon of soda (or eno)
The mixture poured into a greased plate and crushed
pepper sprinkled on top - ready for steaming 
Removed from the steamer
Dhoklas cut into squares




Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 12-15 mins
Makes : about 20 squares (depending upon the size)






Note :

  • Preparation of idli batter : One measure Udad dal (split black gram) and 2 measures raw rice. Wash and soak them separately in water for about 8 -10 hours or keep it overnight. Next day, drain the water. First, grind udad dal to a smooth paste and then rice coarsely. Mix them thoroughly. Add salt and mix again and keep it overnight for fermentation. The idli batter is ready for preparing idlis or white dhoklas.
  • In this recipe, I used eno (1 level tsp) instead of soda.
  • I used a steel plate measuring 8 inches in diameter.
  • While pouring the batter in the plate, ensure that it is only three fourths filled - leaving room for the batter to rise while steaming.




12 comments:

  1. nice recipe.. looks delicious!!

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  2. Yummy....have tried making dhoklas with iddli batter before but will try this out............

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  3. Lovely.will try once.nice recipe!

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  4. These is one of my most favorite food along with aamras!! My mom (actually all of us) ferment the dhokla batter using curd only. We add curd before fermentation. Generally we keep the flour ready at home then mix it with water, curd and some methi dana and let it soak for around 8 hours and then proceed to make the dhokla..

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    1. Thank you for this info. I love Dhoklas. Will try it it this way too.

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  5. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I had Idli for breakfast and I tried the dhokla too. it was super.

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    Replies
    1. Shubha, pleased to receive your feedback. Thank you.

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  6. Awesome. I have idly batter at home. I'm going to try this :-)
    -Ranjitha

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  7. This idea comes at such a good time when I have ready idli batter at home.

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