Khaman Dhokla | Khaman Recipe | Dhokla Recipe | How to make Khaman Dhokla Recipe
This Khaman Dhokla recipe makes a wonderfully soft and fluffy, lightly sweet and savory cake that’s perfect to enjoy anytime of the day. It’s easy to prepare Khaman recipe steamed on the stovetop or even in the Instant Pot with my step-by-step instructions.
What is Khaman
Khaman, also known as khaman dhokla in other Indian states, is a popular delicacy from the Gujarati cuisine. It is light, spongy and includes a hint of great savory flavor from a simple combination of gram flour (besan), spices, and herbs. Gram flour is ground skinned black chickpeas.
Khaman is a healthy savory-sweet snack that happens to be vegan. Plus, it can be gluten-free too, if you skip semolina and asafoetida in the batter.
Khaman is also known as yellow dhokla as it has a yellow color or besan dhokla. It is also known as instant khaman.
I prepare khaman dhokla recipe with the steaming method either in an Instant pot or in a pan. They’re perfect to enjoy for a hearty and satisfying breakfast or an afternoon or evening snack.
Leavening Ingredients
Baking Soda or Eno
To make khaman recipe, you can also use baking soda. But baking soda gives its soapy aroma if used in excess, so be careful not to add too much.
Eno gives you a perfect fluffy and soft khaman while the one made with baking soda is not that fluffy or spongy.
I personally prefer to use eno in khaman recipe as it gives the best results. I do not favor baking soda, as firstly we cannot stand the soapy aroma and secondly the texture is not that airy or spongy in comparison to the khaman dhokla recipe made with eno.
Use eno that is fresh and within its shelf period. If your eno is not fresh or active, the texture of khaman will be flat and dense. And please do not use flavored eno – the regular eno without any flavor works the best.
Both eno and baking soda react with turmeric powder and gives a red tinge or red spots in khaman dhokla. So add little turmeric powder or skip it completely.
Lemon juice or Citric Acid
I have made khaman dhokla recipe both with lemon juice and citric acid. Citric acid gives a superb fluffy texture. Lemon juice also works great, but citric acid wins here. That said, use whatever is easily available to you.
To swap citric acid with lemon juice, use this standard proportion of:
1 tablespoon lemon juice = ¼ teaspoon citric acid (in the powdered form)
For citric acid, use a food-grade and pure citric acid. I also suggest including freshly squeezed lemon juice. Use a fresh lemon.
How to make Khaman Dhokla Recipe
Prep Pan
1. Grease a steamer pan with 2 to 3 teaspoons oil.
Make Batter
2. Take 1.5 cups gram flour (120 grams besan) in a mixing bowl or pan. Do use gram flour which has a fine texture.
TIP: You can make khaman with chickpea flour as well.
3. The add the following ingredients:
- 2 to 3 pinches of turmeric powder
- a generous pinch of asafoetida (skip to make a gluten-free version)
- 1.5 tablespoons lemon or lime juice or ⅓ to ½ teaspoon pure citric acid
- 1.5 teaspoons ginger paste (crush 1.5 inch ginger and 1.5 teaspoons green chilies in a mortar-pestle)
- 1.5 teaspoons green chili paste
- 1 tablespoon sugar or add according to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt or add as per taste
- Avoid adding too much of turmeric powder as then the fruit salt or baking soda reacts with the turmeric powder and makes it red in color, thereby giving reddish dots, specks or tones in the khaman.
4. Add 1 cup water (or more or less as needed) and 1 tablespoon oil to make a thick yet smooth flowing batter. The amount of water needed depends on the quality of flour, so start with 1 cup and add as required. Stir well to combine.
5. Then add 1 tablespoon rava (semolina). This is entirely optional but adds a good texture to the khaman. Skip rava or semolina for a gluten-free option.
6. Stir with a whisk to create a smooth, thick batter without any lumps.
Consistency of Batter
7. The batter should be thick yet flow easily off of the whisk. A quick tip is that if the batter becomes thin, then 1 to 2 tablespoons of gram flour.
Next bring 2 to 2.5 cups of water to a boil in a steamer pan or electric cooker or pressure cooker. The amount of water to be added depends on the size of the steamer or pressure cooker.
NOTE: To know more about the steaming in a pan, cooker and Instant Pot in detail, do read the tips section below.
Leaven Khaman Batter
9. Next add 2 teaspoons Eno or fruit salt. 2 teaspoons of Eno makes the khaman soft and fluffy. But there is a slightly alkaline taste to Eno. If you’re not a fan of this flavor then add only 1.5 teaspoons of Eno. If using baking soda as your leavening agent add ½ teaspoon to ¾ teaspoon.
10. Stir the eno with the batter briskly and quickly.
11. The fruit salt should be mixed evenly with the batter. Or else you get uneven texture in the khaman.
12. The eno will make the batter become frothy, so you need to work quickly to whisk it in thoroughly.
12. Pour the prepared batter into the greased pan.
13. Gently shake so that the batter evens out in the pan. Below is a picture of the batter ready to be steamed.
Steam Khaman
1. Place the pan in a steamer or electric rice cooker or pressure cooker. The water should already be boiling or hot when you place the pan with the khaman batter. When using a pressure cooker, remove the vent weight/whistle from the lid and cover the cooker tightly with its lid.
NOTE: I have listed the detailed directions of steaming in a pan, pressure cooker and Instant pot in the tips sections below.
2. Steam for 15 to 20 minutes in an electric rice cooker. If using a pan or pressure cooker or Instant Pot, steam for 12 to 15 minutes on a medium to medium-high heat. In the below photo the khaman is cooked for 17 minutes using an electric rice cooker.
You can begin working on the spice and herb solution for tempering the khaman while it cooks. Continue reading for the instructions.
3. To check the doneness, insert a toothpick. It should come out clean if the khaman is done. If the toothpick has the batter on it, then you need to steam for another minutes or so.
4. Let the khaman become warm or cool completely. Gently slide a butter knife along the edges to release the khaman from the pan. Place a plate or tray on top of the pan.
5. Then quickly invert the pan.
6. If greased well, the khaman will easily slide out onto the plate.
7. Use a sharp knife to slice the khaman in squares and set aside until ready to temper. Since I used a concave plate, the khaman settled down in the center. This won’t happen if you use a flat plate.
Temper Khaman Dhokla
1. Tempering is essential to infuse the khaman with flavor and add moisture to the gram flour sponge. To make the temper, first heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a small pan on the stove. Use peanut oil or any neutral-tasting oil.
2. Add 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds and allow them to crackle.
3. When the mustard seeds are crackling, add 10 to 12 curry leaves, and, if you like, 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds and 1 teaspoon of chopped green chili.
4. Stir and then add 2 teaspoons white sesame seeds.
5. Fry the sesame seeds for some seconds. But don’t brown them or they’ll become bitter.
6. Next carefully add ⅓ cup of water. You can switch off the heat when adding water.
7. Then add 2 teaspoons of sugar.
8. Stir and allow the tempering mixture to come to a boil. Make sure that the sugar is dissolved.
9. Remove from the heat and immediately pour this tempering mixture evenly on the khaman dhokla so that it seeps through the sliced edges.
10. Garnish with 2 to 3 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves and 2 to 3 tablespoons grated coconut, if you like.
Serving Suggestions
Serve the khaman dhokla straight away or you can store it in an airtight box and serve later after an hour. If enjoying khaman later after several hours, then don’t add coconut until ready to eat.
You can also refrigerate them, and then when ready to serve just sprinkle some water and heat in a microwave for a few seconds until just warmed.
Comments
Post a Comment