Khaman dhokla is a dish I make weekly at home without fail. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this dish it’s basically a savory steamed chickpea flour sponge cake tempered with spices. My whole family loves khaman so much so that I find myself having to make 6+ trays of them every time we have a family dinner or get together. In fact, every single time I visit my mom I make a whole batch because she absolutely loves my khaman and my mother is no easy critic to please! It’s super easy to make and the recipe I have come up with is practically fool-proof! You can even make it in the microwave to save time and clean up. Do try it and let me know what you think!
Fool-Proof Khaman Dhokla
Ingredients
HOMEMADE KHAMAN DHOKLA MIX
- A Pinch of Hing(Asafoetida)
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- Salt to taste
- 1 cup Besan/Chickpea/Gram Flour Chickpea flour/ Gram flour
- 1.5 tbsp Sooji/Semolina Flour
WET INGREDIENTS
- 2.5 tbsp Oil
- 1.5 tsp Eno(Fruit Salt)
- 3/4 - 1 cup Water may need to add less to achieve pouring consistency
- 1/2 tsp Citric acid
- 1 tsp Crushed ginger and green chilies ADJUST ACCORDING TO YOUR TASTE
FOR TEMPERING
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds(Rai)
- 2-3 tbsp Water optional
- 10-12 Curry Leaves
- 1 tsp Sugar optional
- 4-5 Green Chillies
- 1 tbsp Oil
Instructions
- Assemble all the ingredients. Please read all the tips above before proceeding.
- In a big bowl add besan, sooji, hing, salt and sugar. You can store this mix in an airtight container and when ready mix in the ingredients mentioned under - "wet ingredients".
- Using a motor pestle pound chilies and ginger to a paste or blend it to a fine paste.
- Add oil, citric acid, freshly grounded green chili and ginger paste and salt. Add water and mix until well blended. Whisk the dhokla batter a couple of times to incorporate air into it. This makes the khaman fluffy and light. This has to be done before adding ENO.
- Add eno and whisk the batter until it is well blended. Batter will become airy and frothy. Batter should be of a thick dropping consistency similar to pancake batter.
- Grease a pan in which khaman will be steamed. Pan should almost be double in size as the batter will rise up while steaming. In a large vessel fill water and lay a strainer at the base. Pour batter in that greased pan and place it inside the vessel containing hot boiling water and over the strainer.
- Cover it with a lid and steam khaman for about 15- 20 minutes.
- Insert a toothpick to check if khaman is properly cooked. It should come out clean. Allow it to cool down for 30 minutes. Insert a knife around the edges to loosen up Khaman. Flip it over onto a plate.
- Using a sharp knife cut khaman into pieces.
FOR TEMPERING
- In a pan heat oil, add in rai allowing them to sputter then immediately add in hing and green chilies and let it splutter on a low flame for 20 seconds.
- Add curry leaves and when they are crisp take the mixture off the flame, allow it to cool for a minute, add in sugar and water. Mix it well.
- Pour this hot mixture over the prepared khaman.
MICROWAVE METHOD
- Pour batter in a greased deep microwaveable dish. Cook for 3-4 minutes (or may take 5-6 minutes depending on your microwave).
- Take it out - Insert a toothpick to check if its cooked throughgh, if the toothpick comes out clean then its done if not then return it back into the microwave for 30 seconds.
- Allow it to cool completely.
- Cut into squares and prepare tempering.