Khatta Dhokla is a popular, nutritious dish from Gujarat in Western India. It is made with rice and urad daal and perfect when served with Tamarind and/ or Mint-coriander Chutneys. I also love to serve Khatta Dhokla with daal or a meat curry. Not typical but definitely tasty! Khatta Dhokla requires pre-soaking, grinding and fermenting of ingredients, so factor this into your preparation time.
Prep Time: 18 hours
Total Time: 18 hours
Ingredients:
- 3 cups medium-grain rice
- 1 1/2 cups Urad Daal (White Lentils/ Black lentils with skin removed) - see link below for picture
- 1/2 cup sour yogurt
- Warm water
- 1 tsp green chilli paste
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp asafetida powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsps vegetable/ sunflower/ canola cooking oil
- Cooking oil to grease the cooking pan
- 1/2 cup finely chopped coriander leaves to garnish
- Red chilli powder or freshly ground black pepper to garnish
Preparation:
- Wash the rice and Urad daal together until the water runs clear. I do this in a sieve to make it easy.
- Put the rice-daal mixture in a deep bowl and top up with warm water to cover. Soak for 2-3 hours.
- Now drain all the water and grind the mixture in your food processor, using as little water as possible to lubricate the mixture as you grind it. Grind till you get a smooth paste.
- Now add the sour yogurt and a little hot water at a time to make a batter that resembles thick pancake batter. Once done, cover and keep aside in a warm, dry place to ferment for 6-8 hours. I usually do this the night before I want to prepare the Khaatta Dhokla, so that the batter can ferment overnight.
- Once the batter is fermented, add the green chilli and ginger pastes to it, add the asafetida and also the salt to taste. Add the cooking oil. Mix well.
- Khatta Dhokla can be prepared in a steamer and also in the microwave! To cook in a steamer, lightly grease 1 or 2 shallow (2"-3" deep) steamer pans with oil. Pour in the batter till it reaches about half the height of the pan. Put in the steamer and cook for 15-20 minutes. To check if done, poke the center of the Khatta Dhokla with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean and dry, the Khatta Dhokla is cooked. If not, cook a little longer and check again.
- To cook in a microwave, grease a shallow (as above) microwave-safe pan with cooking oil and pour the batter in till it reaches half the height of the pan. I usually use a 6" X 9" rectangular Pyrex baking dish. Cover and cook for 10-12 minutes. This time varies due to different wattages of microwaves. Check as above, to see if the Khatta Dhokla is cooked. Allow to rest covered for 2-3 minutes after it is done.
- Repeat the above cooking steps with all remaining batter.
- Cut the cooked Khatta Dhokla into square, rectangular or diamond shapes and arrange in a plate. Sprinkle with either red chilli powder or freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve with Tamarind Chutney and/ or Mint-Coriander Chutney.
