Dressed up Dhokla!

It's high time I get back to my blog :) Initially I was actually occupied with worldly matters, but I don't think I have an excuse now! I've just been out of touch with my little blog world out here! Can't wait to get started again!

I never knew the difference between Gujarati Khaman and Dhokla. To me there were yellow dhoklas and white dhoklas. I did discover in time that Khaman or my so called yellow dhokla is made with chickpea flour or ground bengal gram (chana daal). Where as the 'white' variety could be made with rice or sooji/rava/semolina and is called Dhokla :). Both of us prefer dhokla over Khaman for some undefined reason! Both are equally delicious! I have always used Gits instant mixes to make dhoklas but this time I tried making them with sooji. I got the basic recipe from Trupti's 'The Spice Who Loved Me'. A beautiful blog with a ton of great recipes. A great tutorial blog for someone like me who is still a novice at Gujarati cooking! This dhokla recipe is perfect, its as simple as it gets and the result is light, fluffy, absolutely delicious dhoklas. Thanks Trupti!

Dhokla
Ingredients:
Sooji/Semolina - 1 Cup
Besan/Chickpea flour - 1 Tbsp
Yogurt (preferably sour) - enough to bring everything together
Asafoetida (heeng) - a fat pinch
Turmeric (haldi) - a tiny pinch
Salt and Sugar to taste - don't skip the sugar, a tiny bit rounds off the flavors very well :)
Baking Powder - a pinch
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Eno/Fruit Salt - 1 tsp

Method:
Mix everything except lemon juice and eno together to idli batter like consistency. Let stand for 10 mins. In the meanwhile heat water in a steamer. Grease plates for steaming the dhokla. I used two plates, you can use one if it is large enough to leave room for the dhoklas to rise. Just before steaming, mix lemon juice and eno to the batter and blend lightly using your hand. The batter will turn a little frothy. Pour in the steaming plates. I sprinkled red chile powder over the batter in one plate and freshly ground pepper on the other. Steam covered for 15 mins. Insert a fork and if it comes out clean, dhokla is ready. Remove plates from steamer and let cool for 5 mins.

Chutney -
Cilantro leaves - 1 Cup
Fresh mint leaves - a handful
Green chiles - 2
A tiny piece of ginger
Peanuts - 1 tbsp
Salt and lime juice to taste.

Grind everything together to a smooth chutney.

Assembling -
Remove one layer of dhokla on a plate and apply green chutney liberally. Cover with the other layer of dhokla.

Tempering -
Heat 2 tsp oil, as it warms add a tsp of mustard seeds (rai) and a slit green chile. When mustard begins to crackle, add a tsp of sesame seeds. Pour this mix over the dhokla and sprinkle chopped cilantro.



Cut the dhokla in square pieces and serve warm! Cold coffee made a great accompaniment to these dhoklas for a summer weekend breakfast! If you don't have time to make chutney, ketchup works very well too. You can spice up the ketchup with a dash of hot sauce for that extra kick :) These dhoklas are great even if you skip the whole layering business and just temper them with mustard and sesame seeds. We usually have dhoklas without any tempering - with just red chile or black pepper sprinkled on top. In that case, adding a little ginger-green chile paste to the batter (like Trupti did) would be a great idea!

Sooji Rotti

Our breakfast during the week is normally cereal or oatmeal (for me occasionally). But during the weekend we like to start the day with a brunch that keeps us going till dinner. I like to keep trying different things as it's so easy to get bored! The two staple Indian breakfast items poha or upma don't show up in my kitchen that often. For the simple fact that hubby dear is not fond of pohe and upma doesn't make me happy! Having grown up in the state of Madhya Pradesh, I have my share of affinity towards pohe for breakfast. I think I can eat it every single day of the week :)

So, back to trying different things - I stumbled across rice rotti on a blog (can't remember which one now!) and tried making it. It came out pretty tasty and I knew I will be making it again. My only complaint - it was not as soft as I would have liked. Very likely due to something I did wrong!

Last Saturday, when I was once again out of ideas for breakfast I turned to my blogroll for help :) And found Rava rotti in Latha's Masala Magic. I had found my Saturday brunch :)!

Here's how I made it -

Ingredients:
1 cup rava/cream of wheat/semolina/sooji
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup chopped onions, grated carrots, chopped cilantro
1 green chilli chopped fine
1 tsp grated ginger
Salt to taste
mustard seeds, heeng, curry leaves, oil to season

Method:
Spread sooji on a plate and microwave for 2 mins. After it cools down, add the rest of the ingredients except the seasoning and mix well. Now you can add enough water to either make a pancake like batter or a loose dough. I have tried both ways and I found the former easier to work with. season with mustard seeds, curry leaves and heeng spluttered in a tsp of hot oil. Mix well.

Heat a non-stick pan and apply a few drops of oil. If using pancake like mix, spread like you would make a pancake. Add a few drops of oil and cover with a lid. After a couple of minutes, flip and cover. Cook for 1 minute and then remove the cover. Roast till crisp and golden.

If you use a loose dough - Make a small ball of the dough and place it on cool tava/pan. Use your fingers to pat the ball till it becomes thin. Follow the same steps hereafter. (Check out pictures on Latha's post)

Serve with butter and pickle/ketchup/tomato chutney/green chutney.



Parthiv loved this rotti so much that he said he could have it for breakfast again on Sunday and would love it if I made it for dinner too! He said it's an "addictive" taste and my friends I have to agree!! It was soft on the inside, crisp on the outside and a little touch of butter made it just so awesome. Thanks to Latha and to Supriya of Monsoon Spice (that's where Latha got the inspiration to make this!) :)