Easy Vegetable Khaman Dhokla - Steam Cooked Savoury Indian Cake (V)
Dhokla is a steamed savoury cake. This healthy and low fat dish from Gujarat is usually served as a snack at teatime, or as part of a Gujrathi thali (an Indian style meal made of many different dishes all served together on a large steel plate). Traditona
Ingredients
For the batter:
- 1 cup chickpea flour (besan)
- 1 1/2 cups semolina (rawa)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsps sugar
- 1 tsp green chilli ginger paste
- 3 tbsps carrots grated
- 3 tbsps green beans very thinly sliced
- 3 tbsps sweet corn (I used frozen)
- 1 1/2 tsps Eno salt ' s fruit (or one 5gm sachet)
- to taste salt (remember the fruit has some in it)
For tempering:
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp sesame seeds white
- 2 green chillies , chopped
- pinch asafetida powder
- sprig curry leaves
- 1 tbsp water
For garnishing:
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves chopped
- 1 tbsp coconut grated
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients given for batter, except the Eno's fruit salt, using enough water (about 1 1/2 cups u2013 this is just an estimate) to make a thick batter. The batter should thickly coat your spatula. Keep aside for about 15 minutes. The semolina will absorb some of the water in the batter, so the batter will become thicker after standing for 15 minutes. Adjust the consistency with a couple of spoons of water before steam cooking.
- On the stove top, get your steamer (whatever you use for steam cooking food) ready. Once the water is boiling and the steam is rising well from the steamer, add the Enos' fruit salt to the batter. Sprinkle a little water over the fruit salt. It will start bubbling and frothing.
- Stir the batter well enough to mix in the fruit salt. Pour the batter into a well oiled round (9" or 10")or square cake tin (8" by 8") or a thali (a round steel plate with high sides) and steam cook for about 10 to 12 minutes or till a skewer comes out of the dhokla clean.
- For the tempering, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add the sesame seeds, chopped chillies, asafetida and curry leaves. Add the 1 tbsp of water and pour this over the steamed dhokla. Garnish with coriander and coconut.
- Cut the dhokla into squares and serve warm or at room temperature with green chutney or if preferred with tomato ketchup.
Notes
Note : This recipe calls for Eno's fruit salt which is normally available in India at most pharmacies, in single use sachets or bottles. It is supposed to be effective as an antacid, but I really have no idea whether this claim is true. However, Eno's does work magic in this recipe and is preferable to baking powder here.
What is Eno's fruit salt? ccording to this source, it is a mix of Sodium Bicarbonate (46.4%), Citric Acid (43.6%), Sodium Carbonate (10%). GlaxoSmithKline makes this product. It is not as sensitive to food formations as straight Sodium Bicarbonate plus it does not have that "aftertaste" that Sodium Bicarbonate has.