Dhokla / Steamed Gramflour Cake

Native of Gujarat , this dish is probably one of those snacks which suits to everyone´s palate in India. It has that touch of mild spice as well as mild sweetness with mix of nutty flavor of chickpea flour with tendency to melt in mouth which makes it a one of the most favorite Indian snacks.

I have read and tried over 7-8 dhokla recipes over last 5-6 years. And i am gonna share what according to me closely resembles the dhokla I am used to having and pretty much with all ingredients available in Rio.

Ingredients

Main ingredients
1 cup (200ml) Besan/chick pea flour
120-150 Gms yogurt
1 Green chilli very finely chopped
1 Tea spoon Salt
1 Tea spoon sugar
1 Tea spoon Grated ginger
1 Tea spoon Grated garlic
1 Tea spoon ENO fruit salt (plain or lemon flavoured)
1 Table spoon of lemon juice in case you are using plain ENO.

Garnishing
1.5 Cups Water
2 Green chillies (longitudinally slit)
2 Tea spoon mustard seeds
1 Big lemon
2 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Table spoon finely chopped fresh Coriander
2 Table spoon of oil

Cooking utensil needed
Here you have two-three options
1) Pressure cooker steamers
2) Traditional steamers
3) Make shift steamer

Its A fairly simple Recipe
Take a bowl and add chickpea flour in it ( i have covered how to make chickpea flour at home in my previous post, in case its not available in your locality). I use 120 gms of yogurt Initially. The amount of yogurt you use should depends on consistency of yogurt you use. If its watery then use less and if its thicker use more. The idea is after you mix yogurt with flour thoroughly, you should check the dropping consistency of the mix. If you lift with big spoon and drop it back in bowl and it flows like water then your mix is too thin add a bit more flour. In case The mix is dropping like big lump, its too dry, add a bit more curd. The ideal consistency is where the batter is thick and and when you do the drop test in bowl it should flow intermittently with effort.

Make sure there are no lumps. The add all other ingredients other than ENO fruit salt i.e. Green chillies, Salt, sugar, Grated ginger, Grated garlic. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and keep the batter aside.

Now its time to prepare utensils for Steaming. Those of you who already have p´ressure cooker or traditional steamers would already be knowing the process, but for people who don't have these utensil a makeshift steamer can be made like i did.

I used a deep sauce pan like this




And combined it with metallic spice box commonly available in market such that complete metallic spice box could go inside the deep sauce pan.



Now there are two ways to work with this combo, either use internal steel Cups for moulding or the main outer box for moulding. I have tried both the methods.

1) In case you decide to use internal steel cups for moulding. First fill the deep sauce pan with 2-3 cups of water. Bring it to boil. While water is coming to boil, Oil the interior of steel cups and put them inside the main outer box

2) In case you decide to use outer main spice box for moulding. First fill the deep sauce pan with 2-3 cups of water. First keep the internal cups inverted inside in the deep sauce pan to make false elevated bedding over which you keep the main outer box later. In my case the inner cups were of heavy so while boiling they din´t move much. In case your spice box comes with lighter inner cups use something else heavier to elevate over which you can keep main box. By keeping the main box elevated you ensure the boiling water during steaming process doesn´t mix with the batter during steaming. Oil the interior of main spice box and keep it ready.

Once your steaming assembly is ready just start boiling the water. Once you see the boil coming in water. Mix 1 Tea spoon of ENO salt in batter simultaneously adding 1 tablespoon of water on it. Whisk for 2 minutes. You´ll see the whole batter swelling. At this point start pouring the batter into moulds. (steel cups in case you chose 1st option and outer box in case you chose second option). Make sure You put batter only up to 40-50% mould height, as during steaming process the batter will swell.

Once poured into moulds, if choosing 1 st option then keep with outer box inside boiling water or if second option main outer box over the elevated base in pan. Cover and steam for about 12-15 mins. After 15 mins insert a fork and remove, check if anything is sticking onto fork, if not batter is cooked, if sticking steam for another 4-5 minutes. Do not over-steam as it would flatten the dhokla.

Once ready remove and keep aside for 5 minutes.

Now for garnishing, take shallow pan, put two table spoon of oil, once heated, add Mustard seeds, once they start splintering add longitudinally slit chillies, fry for a minute. Add sugar and 1.5 cups of water. Once water comes to boil add lemon juice of 1 big lemon. Mix for a minute and keep aside and let it cool. Once the the water is cooled down pour over the mould (or moulds) . let dhokla absorb the water. If you chose second method of making in big outer box then cut in pieces as you wish.

Dhoklas made in small steel cups of spice box

spices Dhoklas made in Main outer spice box and cut into triangular pieces

Feel free to add a comment or questions if you have any.

P.S: Notice my Rio Spice branding just above the plates. One of the few cute coasters, wifey bought from Hippie faire in rio. Its made with spices inside the glass :)