Brinda's Cosmopolitan Kitchen for Indian Vegetarian Dishes: KHAMAN DHOKLA & DHOKLA SANDWICH

dhokla sandwich

khaman dhokla

‘Khaman Dhokla’ – prepared with chickpea flour (besan), is a popular snack in Maharashtrian and Gujarati homes. It is a healthy snack as it is steamed and not deep fried. If you want to end up with soft, spongy dhoklas, you should have the batter right. Otherwise you will find yourself choking on the dhoklas. Remember – even for idlis, your batter should be perfect! Here is a tried and tested recipe for this popular snack - thanks to my friend Padmini for this easy recipe.

The stores are flooded with ‘Khaman Dhokla’ mixes of various brands – I have tried Gits and a few others and they turn out pretty good. But when you can prepare the same at home from scratch without much labor and end up with equally good results at a much lesser price, wouldn’t you love to give it a try?

Have you relished ‘dhokla sandwich’? Yummy, isn’t it? No big deal – you can prepare it at home with this tried and tested ‘khaman dhokla’ recipe and green chutney!

Ingredients

1. Chickpea flour/Besan – 1 Cup

2. Water – 3/4 cup

3. Green Chilly – 1 or 2

4. Ginger – 1 inch piece

5. Oil – 1 tbsp

6. Sugar – 1 tsp

7. Turmeric Powder – a pinch

8. Eno – 1 packet (5 gm) (1 tsp)

9. Salt to taste

For tempering

1. Oil – 1 ½ tbsp

2. Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

3. Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

4. Sesame seeds – ½ tsp

5. Green chilly – 1 (chopped)

6. Asafoetida – a pinch

7. Curry leaves - 6

8. Water – 2 -2 ½ tbsp

9. Lime juice – 1 tsp

10. Fresh coriander leaves (finely chopped)

11. Grated coconut – 1 ½ tbsp

Method

1. Grind green chilly and ginger.

2. In a bowl, add the besan (chickpea flour), turmeric powder, salt, sugar, green chilly- ginger paste, oil, mix well.

3. Now add water to the flour mix and mix well to form a thick batter (like idli batter).

4. Set aside for 40-60 minutes.

5. Heat the cooker with water for steaming. Grease a flat cooker vessel.

6. Sprinkle the eno fruit salt to the batter and mix well, stirring in one direction and pour immediately into the greased cooker vessel.

7. Steam for 10 to 15 minutes.

8. Remove and allow to cool.

9. Heat a small frying pan with 1½ tbsp oil. Add mustard, cumin and sesame seeds; once they crackle, turn off the heat and add asafoetida powder and the chopped green chilly and curry leaves. Add 2 - 2 1/2 tbsp. of water. Then add the lime juice and mix well.

10. Pour this over the steamed dhokla so that it is spread all over it.

11. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and grated coconut.

12. Cut into desired shapes and serve with green chutney / ketchup.

Tips

Another friend’s recipe uses a mixture of curd (1/2 cup – whisked) and water (1/4 cup) instead of water alone; the rest of the ingredients for the recipe is the same. This mix does not have to be set aside but can be used immediately. So skip step 4 and start from step 5. The rest of the procedure is the same. So in case you are in a hurry and have curd at hand, you can try out this recipe.

If you find it cumbersome to grind green chilly and ginger, use ginger paste or finely chopped ginger; chopped green chillies are anyway used in the 'tadka'.

Dhokla Sandwich
Use 1 1/2 cups of gram flour and corresponding ingredients and pour in two oiled containers and make 2 dhoklas. Cool and remove both the dhoklas out carefully.
Spread green chutney on one of them and place the other on it.
Repeat steps 9-12 above.
Cut in desired shapes and serve with ketchup.