Khaman Dhokla (Gram flour cake) is a popular Gujarati snack & one of my mouth-watering, 'go to' dishes when I want to prepare something in a jiffy. I don't have the patience to wait for 20 mins (which is the time taken by steaming process) so I go for the microwave version which gives me my Khaman in 2 mins -yaaayyy!!
Recently I learnt that Khaman & Dhokla are actually two different food items. Khaman i.e. the recipe I am showing you today is prepared from chana dal/Gram flour & is usually yellow (due to addition of turmeric). Whereas Dhokla is prepared from rice flour (as main ingredient) & is generally white or pale yellow in color. But the name 'Khaman Dhokla' is so popular that I decided to label it that way.
Ingredients:
For Khaman :
1 cup gram flour (besan)
1 & ½ tablespoon of semolina (rava)
1 teaspoon of green chili & ginger paste
½ teaspoon of citric acid (nimbu ke phool) or 1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
Pinch of hing (asafoetida)
1 tablespoon oil
1 & ½ teaspoon ENO or fruit salt
1 cup of water
salt to taste
For Tempering:
½ teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)
½ teaspoon sesame seeds
1-2 green chilies finely chopped
1 tablespoon of oil
few curry leaves
1 cup of water
2 teaspoon sugar
- Sift all the dry ingredients (except ENO & ginger chili paste) to get rid of any lump.
- Now add the ginger paste, green chili paste, water & make a lump free batter.
- Add ENO & on top of it add 1 tablespoon of water. As as soon as you add water ENO will start to bubble.
- Once the bubbling stops, go ahead & mix the batter well. The Batter will instantly rise & become fluffy. Many think that the Khaman will rise while cooking, that's not the case, this is the only step when Khaman will rise.
- Grease a microwave safe dish & pour the batter in it. Spread evenly.
- Cook in microwave for 2 mins on High. Allow to stand for 1 min.Poke a tooth pick at the center to check if its done. If the toothpick comes out clean with no batter stuck to it that means our Khaman is ready. Depending on the size of your dish and the make of your microwabe you may need more time. If it still feels uncooked, cook in increments of 1 min.
- Keep it aside.
For Tempering:
- Heat oil in a small vessel & once hot add the mustard seeds. Once they crackle, add the remaining ingredients like sesame seeds, green chilies, curry leaves & stir for a min. Switch off the gas & water and sugar to the tempering. (Be careful as it may splatter).
- Pour the tempering over the Khaman spreading it evenly.
- Cut the dhokla evenly & garnish with coriander.
- The khaman prepared this way turns out equally nice & porous like you would get with the steaming process. Try it!!
- That's it wait no longer serve this Instant Khaman with Green Chutney!!
Happy Cooking!!
Shweta
Spongy & fluffy dhokla..so happy to follow your blog....loved the collection you have
This is best recipe I ever read. Thanks for Sharing this Wonderful Recipe with us.Try this recipe with our Advanced Multi Shaped Infinity Idli Plates today.
Hi Varsha, Eno is a fruit salt that should be easily available in any Indian grocery stores so try if you can get your hands on it. Other wise try using a combination of baking soda + citric acid (or any souring agent) either in equal ratio or may be 60/40 ratio respectively. I haven't personally tried this combination so would love to know how your dhokla turns out.
Hi Shweta
I don't have Eno salt. What can I use instead?
Thanks for the recipe
Hi Sharwan, Every Microwave has different setting so the time may vary but ideally shouldn't take more than 4-5 mins. Also make sure that your microwave is at 100% power and the microwave vessel you are using has a flat surface which aids in uniform cooking. Try the dhokla recipe again by using 1 tbsp of eno and microwave your dhokla for 3-4 mins. Let it stand in the microwave itself for 1 min, then poke a toothpick/knife and see if its done, if not microwave for another 1-2 mins. Over heating may make your dhokla little hard from the sides but no worries, Add the sugar water and you will have a nice soft spongy Dhokla ready. Please try it again and let me know how it turns out.