Instant Khaman Dhokla
Time taken – 40 minutes including standing and steaming time
Serves – 2
Type – Healthy snack, steamed food, Low Glycaemic index, Diabetic friendly
Khaman Dhokla is a steamed savoury cake made from gram flour. It is a traditional Gujarati snack, typically a tea time treat. Typically, chana dal (split Bengal gram) is soaked, ground with spices and fermented. The fermented batter is then steamed, cut into bite sized pieces and garnished with tempered mustard seeds and coriander.
Though I do indulge in the long version at times, to suit my last minute cooking – this instant version comes very handy.
Chana dal or gram flour is a food with a low glycaemic index and therefore extremely good for diabetics and those on a GI diet. Besides, it has all the goodness of lentils – protein and fibre. Lentils are the food of the week on my column at Chennai Online.
Here’s the recipe for Instant Khaman Dhokla.
[wpurp-searchable-recipe] – Instant Khaman Dhokla – gram flour, turmeric, sugar, citric acid, salt, water, soda, Oil, For tadka:: mustard seeds, sesame seeds, Few, For garnish:: Finely, Mix the flour, turmeric, salt, sugar and citric acid crystals in a bowl with a cup of water. With a whisk mix them together into a smooth paste.; Let this stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile set up the steamer. You can use a large pot. Place an empty bowl in it as a stand on which to keep the plate. Grease a deep ‘thali’ that will fit into the pot easily leaving some space around. You need a lid to cover the pot tightly. You can tie the lid in a kitchen towel so that it will absorb the steam and not let water droplets fall into the batter while steaming.; After letting the batter stand for 10 minutes, add the soda bicarb into it. Mix it in by pulling at the batter with your fingers. The batter will get fluffy and soft, expanding in volume by almost 3 times [like beaten egg whites]Pour this batter into the greased thali. You can sprinkle sesame seeds on the batter. (Optional).; Keep the thali into the pot, cover with towel covered lid and steam for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.; Remove the thali from the pot and let cool for 5 minutes before cutting it into diamond / square pieces.; For tadka, heat one tsp of oil, put in the mustard seeds, sesame seeds and curry leaves. Once they splutter, turn it over the dhoklas.; Serve hot with tea.; [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]
Ingredients
Method
- Mix the flour, turmeric, salt, sugar and citric acid crystals in a bowl with a cup of water. With a whisk mix them together into a smooth paste.
- Let this stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile set up the steamer. You can use a large pot. Place an empty bowl in it as a stand on which to keep the plate. Grease a deep 'thali' that will fit into the pot easily leaving some space around. You need a lid to cover the pot tightly. You can tie the lid in a kitchen towel so that it will absorb the steam and not let water droplets fall into the batter while steaming.
- After letting the batter stand for 10 minutes, add the soda bicarb into it. Mix it in by pulling at the batter with your fingers. The batter will get fluffy and soft, expanding in volume by almost 3 times [like beaten egg whites]Pour this batter into the greased thali. You can sprinkle sesame seeds on the batter. (Optional).
- Keep the thali into the pot, cover with towel covered lid and steam for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove the thali from the pot and let cool for 5 minutes before cutting it into diamond / square pieces.
- For tadka, heat one tsp of oil, put in the mustard seeds, sesame seeds and curry leaves. Once they splutter, turn it over the dhoklas.
- Serve hot with tea.
Hi Nanditha just now I left a message for ur tahlagam and when I came again I see another post!!!!Kaman dhokla looks great.. have tastd this but haven’t made it myself.. recipe is clear.. thanks
Hey Prema, that was quick. I just finished posting this. I’m working on my writing skills, trying to keep it as simple and clear as possible.Thanks for your encouragement!
Nandita,Your version looks really nice. I will add some turmeric next time on. I like the darker shade of yellow. I would recommend ginger-chilli paste in the batter and cilantro in the garnish. really brings out the flavor!
Hey Nandita,It’s me again…..Khaman dhokla looks delicious. My hubby loves Dhokla but I have never tried making it at home. One time I made the store bought mix, it turned out good but was not fluffy. So I am trying your recipe this evening, the first time I”ll be making dhokla ever. Will get back on how it turned out.
hey, by the way, u look very pretty 🙂
Nice looking dhoklas. I use eno fruit salt. Makes it light and fluffy.
Hey Nandita,I dropped by in the morning to comment on the Thalagam and here you are again !! I bet the 200th post is not far off :DI made Dhokla just last night..I had some for lunch today and was browsing thru blogs and I find your recipe. I got the inspiration to try some from Hema and like she has mentioned, fresh cilantro takes the taste to an upper level. I also added some asafoetida to the batter. Plan to make some more today 🙂
Hi Nandita! Thanks for leaving a comment. Your blog loks interesting too. Plus you have a HUGE ‘up’ on other bloggers—you know what is good for us and what is bad! g
Hi Nandita, Dhokla looks delicious.I have made dhokla only from the instant mix and loved it.I will try ur’s soon.BTW i tried u’r kasuri methi paratta and it came out very good and everyone loved it…thanks..
Hi Nandita! The dhokla looks so good that I really want to make and eat it :). Thanks for the detailed instruction about how to steam it. I have been very confused till now about the exact process of steaming.
nandita, i have realised that the saying “Great minds think alike” is very true. I too have posted Instant Dhokla on my blog yesterday. Come over and we will exchange notes.
Have tagged you for a meme if you are interested
They looks so good, Dhoklas with mint chutney is an instant success in my house
Yay.. instant dhoklas. I made them last weekend and what a flop they were. They were like besan biscuits and not spongy at all. I messed up the recipe so bad.. Thank you so much for this recipe. I can redeem myself soon..
Oh, those dhokla pics look SCRUMMY!
Khaman dhoklas are my fav. but I always used instant one’s!! I have to try from the scratch now that I have your recipe!!I will!! Looks yummy !!Btw N!! I have tagged you!! Do it only if and when you have time!!:))
one of my favorite dish Nandita
Hi Nandita,Thnx for posting the link to my website :). The dhokla in ur pictures look scrumptious. Nowadays I mostly make them with ‘kasuri methi, ginger, coriander seeds and some eno’ .. they taste like ‘masala khaman’.
Thanks friends!Hey Snehal, nice of you to drop by….love your site, just wonder why your blog isnt updated since a while
Thank you for this recipe. I have to follow a gluten-free diet, and this is the first thing I have cooked using gram flour: it worked very well. I have just two questions: could you please tell me what one cup of gram flour is in grams? We’re not used to cooking with cups and all flours seem to have different weights. As there is just one of me, I am always cutting down recipes, and it would be easier with metric or imperial measurements. Also, I think this could be adapted very easily to make a sweet snack, and I would be grateful if anyone had any suggestions. Thank you again – this is a very useful addition to my stock of gluten free recipes, it’s also very digestible.
Hi,I like your blog very much and its very nicely arranged with lot of good recipes.I write a blog too chakaliI tried Khaman Dhokla using Eno fruit salt, and it came out beautiful, fluffy and tasty. Give it a try!Chakalichakali
I love dhokla. I’m always more interested in eating savoury things than sweet, and eating a delightfully spongy savoury is cake is just awesome! You can see pictures of my khaman dhokla on my blog, if you like: http://mangosoup.blogspot.com/2009/08/khaman-dhokla.html
Hi, i just made the dhokla following the eaxact measurements, but it didn’t turn out fluffy enough and wasn’t bright yellow like we get in haldiram’s etc..??? could u tell me, where i might have gone wrong???
Hi Nandita, Its the first time i tried making dhokla at home from scratch,apart from using the gits mix. The first time was a disaster,i used the quantities given in your recipe,i steamed cooked it in the pressure cooker,after about 10 minutes i could smell something burning. I immediately turned off the cooker and saw that the batter had spilled over,was largely uncooked and the bottom of the cooker was burnt to a charcoal black.I decided to make another batch immediately with just half the quantities and this time i cooked it in a pan with water with a closed lid for 20 minutes,and the dhokla was perfect,soft and spongy,my hubby and i loved it and we polished it off in minutes.Thank you so much for your recipe,dhokla is an all time favourite in my house and i am so glad i can make it at home.You have a wonderful blog and some gr8 recipes.Keep up the good work.Love & best wishesSandhyaNetherlands
it was horrible.. i have to throw evrythng… wastage of so many things.. y do u post such stuff without trying actually!!! this blog is a crap itself.
My Dear Dolly,Next time you are in Hyderabad, I will make this for you, personally, using the same recipe. I’ll also serve you some excellent filter coffee to go with that. Please let me know.Thanks.Nandita
Hi Nandita, I had commented on this post a while ago that this recipe is perfect and that I got wonderful results. I have been making perfect dhoklas for over a year now. But for some strange reason despite the fact that I follow your recipe to the T and use exactly the same ingredients, my dhokla has started to sink in the middle and remains uncooked. This has happened the last 5-6 times. I have no clue as to what is going wrong. Could you please give me your thoughts on this, any ideas, suggestions are welcome. I am very reluctant to give up on this recipe. I hope to hear from you soon. Thanks a lot in advance.Best wishesSandhya