The Recipe of Dhokla - How to Make Dhokla at Home

B) Ingredients For Dhokla (Tadka Preparation)

1. Mustard Seeds – ½ teaspoon
2. Asafoetida (Hing) – A large pinch
3. Curry Leaves – 4 to 5 in number (finely chopped)
4. Coriander leaves – 2 tablespoons (finely chopped)
5. Green Chili – 2 in number (whole)
6. Grated Coconut – 3 tablespoons
7. Sugar – 2 tablespoons
8. Water – 1/4^th cup
9. White Edible Oil – 1 teaspoon

How To Make Dhokla At Home – The Steps

A) Dhokla Preparation by Using Recipe of Dhokla

• In a bowl 1 cup Besan (Gram Flour) is taken. Next, it is sieved by a siever, so that if any lump is present in the Besan then it will stay back on the siever as a residue. Afterward only the fine clean Besan is taken in a bowl. 2 tablespoons of edible oil are now put on it and the Besan is mixed nicely with the oil.
• ½ cup of water is next added slowly to the Besan mixture and the Besan is stirred nicely with the water till it becomes a smooth paste. The batter obtained should be neither very thin nor very thick.

• Next Turmeric powder (a large pinch), ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ginger paste and 1 teaspoon lemon juice is added to the Besan mixture and mixed uniformly. The bowl containing this Besan batter mixture is covered with a lid and rested for 10 minutes.
• In the meanwhile, a steamer or a deep vessel container containing 2 glasses of normal tap water is put on a medium flame burner.
• Now a container in which the Dhokla would be finally prepared is placed inside the previously mentioned deep vessel container or steamer. But before placing the Dhokla making container, in the steamer/deep vessel container containing water, it should be greased properly by edible oil. This Dhokla making container is placed on the base of the steamer/deep vessel container and is now surrounded by water from all sides, without being totally submerged.
• The lid of the steamer/deep vessel container is now covered by a lid. This allows the water which is present inside, to boil.
• After 10 minutes, the focus is now directed towards the Besan batter mixture. The lid is removed and baking soda and Eno powder (in amounts as mentioned in ingredients) are added to the Besan batter mixture and the contents mixed very fast uniformly.
• Now the Dhokla making container is taken out from the hot water and the besan batter mixture is transferred into this (presently hot – Dhokla making container). Now the container is tapped twice on the base so that the Besan batter is spread everywhere evenly in the container.
• This container, which now contains Besan batter mixture, is now immediately transferred again back to the steamer/deep vessel container, containing the boiling water. Now a lid is put over the external container’s top and the contents inside are allowed to boil for 20 minutes over the medium flame burner.

• The above steps should be undertaken very fast otherwise the Dhokla which is being prepared would not be soft or spongy.  
• After 20 minutes the burner is switched off and the steamer/deep vessel container is taken out from the burner. The lid is removed and the dhokla consistency is checked by inserting a toothpick. If the toothpick, when taken out from the Dhokla is clean, that means the Dhokla is fully prepared and can now be taken for the next stage of preparation. If the toothpick, when taken out is not clean (materials adhere to its surface) then the previous steps are repeated again for 5 minutes, till desired results are obtained.
• Once Dhokla achieves the desired consistency, then the Dhokla containing container is taken out from the steamer/deep vessel container and allowed to cool at room temperature. Once this container is cooled then a plate is put on the open surface/top of the container, and the container is inverted. This ensures that the Dhokla will come out to the plate from inside the container.
• Now the whole top portion of this Dhokla mass prepared should be pricked by a fork and this is kept aside.

B) Tadka Preparation in Recipe for Dhokla

• In a small pan, 1 teaspoon white oil is taken and then this pan is put on a low medium flame burner. When the oil gets warm then a big pinch of Hing (Asafoetida) and Mustard seeds (1/2 teaspoon) is added to it.
• When mustard seeds start spluttering then 2 green chilies and chopped curry leaves (4 to 5 in number) are added to the oil on the pan. When a nice aroma starts coming out, then 1/4^th cup of water is added to the pan along with 2 tablespoons sugar and the contents allowed to boil for 1 minute. The burner is switched off and the prepared tadka liquid contents allowed to become a little cool at room temperature, till it is lukewarm.

C)    The Final Steps in the Recipe of Dhokla - Adding Tadka to the Dhokla

• When the liquid tadka prepared above becomes lukewarm then it is spread evenly all over the prepared Dhokla. The liquid tadka will get soaked on the Dhokla and this step would be facilitated by the holes prepared by inserting fork as mentioned previously.
• Next grated coconut (3 tablespoons) and chopped coriander leaves (2 tablespoons) are spread evenly on the top surface of the Dhokla. Now, this big Dhokla mass is cut into smaller pieces depending on the individual’s choice. Dhokla is ready now for serving to your friends or family members.

• The above-described procedure was Recipe of Dhokla with Eno. Recipe of Dhokla without Eno content is also possible, where baking soda is substituted for Eno, which changes the total amount of baking soda used to 3/4^th teaspoon (and not 1/4^th teaspoon as used here). Also, in this situation curd, 1 teaspoon should be added as an extra additive. All other steps are similar.
• Khaman Dhokla recipe differs from the recipe of Dhokla (instant dhokla) mentioned above in the fact that here the Dhokla batter is fermented by using 1 teaspoon curd and left aside for 7 to 8 hours in a warm place, after covering its open surface by a lid. After 7 to 8 hours Eno and baking soda are mixed to the fermented batter and the rest of the remaining steps described above are followed similarly.