Instant Khaman Dhokla

The detox diet ended 3 days earlier than it was meant to. I cheated a bit on the weekend, but I still lost 2.5 kgs, which is good. I feel great to know that I can lose weight if I want to. Despite what everyone says about dieting and its ill effects, I’ve never had issues of health. Which is also testament to the fact that I have never ever starved myself. Even when I went on the GM diet a few years ago, ensuring I was never hungry and struck with hunger pangs was as important as the diet itself.

For me it was important to lose a little weight because once in every little while, I wonder if I can ever drop a few kilos. the trekking trip had really been an assault on my poor system and now that its done, I can continue with  yoga and regular, sensible eating and feel good about the little weight i lost without looking like a hurricane hit me!

I tried out a few recipes I had bookmarked but never tried for various reasons….during the detox, I did learn a lot of ways to eat chickpeas!! In all forms!! And I stayed off cottage cheese, which k doesn’t like too much and there’s really no point in making different things for the both of us.

Khaman Dhokla is bursting out of many blogs because of the Indian Cooking Challenge which is on. Tho I am not a part of this group, this comes at the same time. I followed Tarla Dalal’s recipe. Making few changes to suit what I had on hand. This is a really easy recipe and I don’t think I will be eating store bought dhokla’s again.

Khaman Dhokla

1 cup Bengal gram flour (besan / senagapindi)

11/2 Tablespoons semolina (Bombay Rava/ sooji)

1 tsp lemon juice

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon sugar

A big pinch of asafetida / hing

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp green chilli and ginger paste (I added ¼ tsp red chilli powder and ½ tsp ginger paste)

1 ½ tsp Eno Fruit salt

For the tadka / tempering:

1 T oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

A pinch of asafetida

A few curry leaves

2 chopped green chillies

¼ c water

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

Garnish:

1-2 Tbs chopped fresh coriander leaves

Heat 1 cup water till warm, turn off the heat. Add all the ingredients except the eno fruit salt, gram flour and semolina. Mix till the sugar is dissolved. Add the gram flour and semolina and mix in one direction till there are no lumps (I use a whisk).

Pour water into a pressure cooker / steamer and heat till boiling point, place a metal ring to allow you to place the cooking vessel in such a way that the bubbling water does not enter it. Grease a metal dish (preferably not deeper than 2-3 inches) and set aside. Add the eno fruit salt to the flour mix and quickly mix a few times in the same direction. Do not overmix. Pour this batter into the metal greased bowl. Place in the steamer / cooker, steam for about 15-18 minutes or till a skewer or knife comes out clean.

In a small saucepan, heat the oil, splutter the mustard seeds, put in the green chillies and curry leaves and fry for a couple of seconds till the chillies are seared. Add the salt, sugar and water and bring to a boil. Pour this over the dhokla. Wait for the dhokla to cool a bit before cutting into bite sized pieces. I didn’t wait the first time and it crumbled! Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve warm or at room temperature, with chutney of choice.

The Tarla Dalal recipe is for the microwave, I made the same thing and steamed it in the pressure cooker without a whistle for 15-18 minutes.