Khatta Dhokla

The last time I had to be away, and my husband had to cook for himself, my daughter and I suggested that we pick up a few 'ready to eat' meal packs and stock them for him. We find a good variety of brands that are imported at the local store. We wanted him to be able to cook something for his breakfast and eat it before he left for work. That meant he had to be able to cook in a span of fifteen minutes and have it too, add to it, the cleaning of the dishes to it. We persuaded him to try from these packets, however much he did not like them.We were off and when I came back, I found few packs unopened. It was not that he did not like the food, but the quantity was much more for him for a meal, so he had used up fewer packets of food. I had to clear them and realised that they were good for a meal once in a way, not for every meal.
I had happened to pick a pack of Khatta dhokla mix. I made the dhoklas and saved the pack to look up the list of ingredients. Reading that, I formulated the batter for dhokla which was very nearly that of adai batter that I otherwise make. But to be sure, I read a few blogs that convinced me that it is an easy recipe. All set and having set an extra bowl of curd, I was ready to try Khatta dhokla.
The google search will throw you so many recipes that you will be wondering which one to choose. I have adapted this from many sources and a branded mix box wrapper.

Khatta Dhokla

Makes 20 dhoklas
Ingredients:
1 cup raw rice (Sona mansuri/ kolam rice)
1/3 cup urad dhal
1/3 cup channa dhal
1/3 cup thoor dhal
2 teaspoons semolina
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon curd
2 teaspoons ENO fruit salt + some for dusting the plate
2 tablespoons sesame oil + some oil to generously grease the plate
1/8 teaspoon asafoetida
Salt to taste

For tempering and garnish:
3 teaspoons cooking oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
A sprig of curry leaves

Few teaspoons milagai podi/chutney powder


Method:
Wash and soak the rice for a few hours.
Place all the dhals together, wash and soak them in another bowl.
Drain the water from the dhals mix and grind to a coarse textured batter. Try not to add much water while grinding. Transfer to a larger bowl.
Grind the rice also not very smooth adding just about sufficient water.
Add the rice batter to the dhal batter. Wash the jar of the blender and add the retrieved water to the batter. Mix well and add the salt.
Allow this batter to ferment for about 8 hours.
Whisk the curd well and add it to the batter. Add the semolina also now. After this addition, the batter shall still be of dropping consistency, only slightly tending towards pouring. It shall not be very dense nor watery.
Give it a further half hour to an hour before making the dhoklas.
Place the steamer with water on fire.
Meanwhile, warm the tow tablespoons sesame oil to hot.
Prepare the plate in which you will be steaming the dhoklas while the water is warming.
Spread oil generously on the plate and sprinkle ENO fruit salt over the surface to dust it.
Add the hot sesame oil and asafoetida to the batter and give it a brisk mix.

Place the plate inside the steamer.
Just before transferring the batter to the plate, add 2 teaspoons ENO salt to the batter and mix. It will froth as you are pouring the batter on the plate.
Once the batter has been transferred to the steamer, cover and allow the dhoklas to steam for about 12 to 15 minutes.
You make test if the dhokla has been cooked by poking a thin skewer through. If that comes out clean, the dhokla has been cooked well. You may allow a little more time to be done well.
Once the dhokla has been done, switch the fire off and keep the steamer lid on for a minute or two longer.
Remove the plate from the steamer and allow the dhokla to cool a bit.
Turn over to another flat dish and make slices.
Heat the oil for tempering, add the mustard seeds and allow to crackle. Add the curry leaves and fry for a few seconds. Transfer the tempering on to the dhoklas.
Garnish a sprinkle of chutney powder on top.
Serve with coriander/ mint chutney.

This recipe I am sending to My Legume Love Affair  brainchild of Susan- The Well Seasoned Cook, now taken over by Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen for the MLLA -72 Edition hosted by Susan herself.