Instant Dhokla

As promised, I am posting the second dish that was prepared at the cookery demo. We were all served a sample piece of this dhokla with a little green chutney. It tasted superb. It was moist, soft and fluffy.

I have tried different ways of preparing this popular dish of the Gujarati community. We were told that this is a traditional recipe handed down from great-grandmas of their generation.

I have observed, that in this recipe (unlike other recipes) one needs to beat the mixture after each addition of ingredient – just like as we do in cakes. This time however I did exactly the way it was demonstrated – I used the (wooden) spoon to beat the mixture. Next time I would like to use the electric beater and see whether there is a difference in the texture.

Anyway, the end result was too good – just the way I had tasted it at the demo.

Ingredients :

Besan /Gram flour	1 cup
Water	3/4 cup
Salt	1 tsp
Citric Acid	1/2 tsp
Cooking soda / Eno	1/2 tsp
Oil	1 tbsp
For Garnishing
Grated fresh coconut	1 tbsp
Coriander leaves (chopped)	1 tbsp

For Tempering:

Oil	2 Tbsp
Mustard seeds	2 tsps
Asafetida/Hing	A pinch
Green chillies (chopped)	4
Sugar	2 tsps
Water	1/2 cup

Method :

1. Wash and chop green chilies and corriander leaves and keep aside.
2. Grate fresh coconut and keep aside.
3. Heat steamer ( or pressure cooker without the whistle) with water. Place a greased container or a greased plate in it.
4. In the meantime, take a bowl and mix besan and water to a thick and smooth batter.
5. To this, add salt and mix. Add citric acid and mix. Add soda/eno and mix again. Finally add oil beat fast to make the batter fluffy.
6. Pour the batter into the steamed container /plate and steam it for about 15 minutes or till done (a toothpick when pierced, should come out clean).
7. Remove and allow it to cool.
8. When cooled, cut it into squares but do not remove the pieces from the plate.
   For tempering:
9. Heat a pan. Add oil, mustard seeds and asafoetida /hing. When mustard seeds starts spluttering, add chopped green chilies. After a minute or two, lower the flame and gently add water and sugar.
10. Let it boil. Switch off the gas and pour the entire contents on the cut dhokla pieces.
11. Decorate with chopped coriander leaves and grated coconut before serving.

Ingredients- gram flour, water, oil, salt, eno & citric acid

Chopped green chilies, coriander leaves & grated fresh coconut

Mixture of gram flour and water

Mixture becomes fluffy after the addition of eno/soda

Dhokla mixture steamed and kept to cool

Tempering under process

Contents of tempering poured over the steamed and cut dhoklas

Garnished with chopped coriander leaves & grated coconut

Preparation time : 15 mins

Cooking time : 15 mins

Serves : 4-5

Note:

• After each addition of salt, citric acid, soda and oil, mix/beat vigrously to get the fluffy texture.
• Do not fill the greased container/plate upto the brim – leave some space for it to rise.
• I used an 8 inch diameter greased steel plate for steaming the dhoklas.
• Green chutney that goes well with dhoklas is prepared by grinding to a paste - corriander leaves, mint leaves (smaller bunch) and curry leaves (a few sprigs) along with green chilies, cummin seeds (jeera), salt, a little water and lime juice.