The recipe of Instant Dhokla with dry tadka has been passed down in our family from a very long time. It has been difficult to trace the history of origin of this dish in OUR family. So, here I am briefing the background of Dhokla, in general.
Dhokla is a dish from Gujarat is traditionally made by soaking and fermenting rice and chana dal (split chickpeas). Khaman is another dish from Gujarat with besan (gram flour), sooji (semolina) and curd as main ingredient. This yellow colored Khaman somehow got popularized as Dhokla in the other parts of the country and globe. So, I am continuing with this misnomer.
Khaman is cut into square pieces and served cool- drenched in a sweet, sour watery tadka and topped with spicy green chillies- it becomes a great anytime snack!
Our Dhokla vs. Traditional Khaman
During my courtship, I got to know that my MIL prepares this Instant Dhokla with dry tadka which is a family favorite. This got me intrigued obviously. When I finally got to taste it, I instantly fell in love with it. This version doesn’t use any liquid tadka, yet is moist. We use equal quantity of besan and sooji while khaman is made mostly of besan with very less sooji. It tastes best when hot, as opposed to the generally cool Khaman (errr, Dhokla). The curd makes it slightly sour and is spicy. It looks reddish orange on the outside from the added Kashmiri Red chilli. Khaman is served in square shape while this version is made in Idli stand- can you guess the shape? 😛
So, Khaman is called Dhokla now, right? So taking the misnomer further, we call our idli shaped, non drenched yet moist, slightly sour and spicy khaman as a DHOKLA 😀 😀
Do try it and let us know if our family favorite has found a place in your kitchen too?
You may wish to try our other recipes like Cracked Wheat Porridge (Meetha Daliya) and Onion Salad (Masala Pyaaz).
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- Idli Cooker
- Measuring Cups and Spoons (I use and recommend this Combo)
- Gram Flour (Besan)
- Semolina (Sooji)
- Turmeric
- Salt
- Eno Regular
- Mustard Seeds
- Wild Mustard Seeds (Jakhiya)
- Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
- Asafoetida (Hing)
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Instant Dhokla
Ingredients
For Dhokla
- 1 cup Gram Flour (besan)
- 1 cup Semolina (Sooji )
- 2 cups Sour curd
- ½ tsp Turmeric(Haldi)
- Salt To taste (swadanusar)
- 1 tsp Eno
For Tadka
- 1½ Tbsp Oil
- ½ Tbsp Mustard seeds (Rai)
- ½ Tbsp Wild mustard seeds (Jakhiya)
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- 2 Tbsp Chopped coriander
- 1 finely chopped green chilli
- 1 Tsp Kashmiri Red chilli (may adjust to taste)
- A pinch of salt
- A pinch of hing (optional)
Instructions
- Add all the items under Dhokla except eno and mix well.
- Make a flowy batter consistency. Add some water, if reuired and let it rest for minimum 20 min. In the meanwhile, you can put the water to boil in the Idli cooker. Once when I had to make it early morning, I kept this mixture overnight and worked well.
- Mix well and add curd if required. Beat this mixture for a minute or two to make it fluffy.
- Add Eno and mix gently.
- Pour in greased Idli stand. Make sure to fill each section to ¾ of the capacity.
- Once the water is at rolling boil, put the Idli stand in the cooker and let it steam for 10-12 mins. (The time may vary depending on the size of Idli cooker).
- Insert a toothpick/ knife in one of the Dhokla and if it comes clean, it is ready. Separate the Idli plates and let the steam escape. Demould them.
- For the tadka, heat oil and add all the ingredients listed under it and fry till mustard seeds crackle.
- Put in all the dhoklas and mix and serve.
Notes
- Cup size is 250 ml
- I use homemade curd which is watery. If you are using store brought, you may wish to dilute it to flowing consistency.
- I use the blue bottle of Eno, the regular one, it has a neutral taste
- Wild mustard seeds add to a beautiful crunch. Do add them, if you have them available.
Below segment gives an approximate of the nutrition facts (using a third party calculator) of the recipe.
Ultimate
Thank you