Gujarati cuisine is very famous for their snacks and they have powerful names like Dhokla, Fafda, Khandvi, Khakhra, etc...:-). Amongst them, Dhokla is one of our favorite as it is steamed and simple. Though I have seen it served as snack in restaurants and potlucks, I also serve it as a breakfast or as a light dinner along with some salad or soup. Most people make it from store bought mixes, while a few do it from besan (channa dal flour). Since I prefer to have my grains and pulses soaked and activated before I use them, I wanted to try and make it completely from scratch. I have been trying this for a while and I am very happy with this recipe. Most dhokla recipes call for Eno fruit salt which is an over the counter antacid used in India and other countries. I did not want to worry about finding the hidden ingredients in Eno (especially because I do not really trust a pharma giant like GlaxoSmithKline). So, I am just using baking soda and citric acid which are the basic ingredients in eno anyway. Btw, this is one dish that is as easy from scratch as making it from a mix, as always you just need a little bit of planning.
Ingredients:
Directions:
KODE IKLAN BAWAH ARTIKEL
Ingredients:
- Channa dal - 3/4 cup (soaked for 4-8 hours)
- Raw rice - 1/2 cup (soaked for 4-8 hours)
- Homemade organic yogurt - 1/2 cup
- Filtered water - 1/4 cup
- Green chilly - 2-3
- Fresh ginger root - 1'' piece
- Sea salt - as per taste
- Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
- Preferred unrefined cooking oil - 1 tsp (I use organic EV olive oil)
- Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
- Citric acid - 1/4 tsp (or Lemon juice - 1 Tsp)
For garnish:
- Preferred unrefined cooking oil - 1 Tbs (I use organic virgin coconut oil)
- Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
- Green chillies - 2-3 (slices)
- Chopped coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
- Fresh squeezed lemon juice - 1-2 Tbs
Directions:
- Drain the dal and the rice, grind with water and yogurt. Add salt and turmeric powder and keep aside for 8 hours or overnight for fermenting. (I added a tablespoon of idli batter as a starter which is my foolproof method to ferment batters in winter)
- When you are ready to make dhokla, add minced green chilly and ginger to the batter and mix well.
- Bring water to a boil in your steamer and grease a dhokla plate