Matar dhokla / Green Peas Steamed cake

Here I am , all tired and exhausted after my first day of work in office. Hats-off to all those working ladies in Blogosphere who despite of all the responsibilities and meticulous activities, show their full zeal to the food world. I feel high admiration for these young ladies who have defined the word Super-Women for the World.

And now, since am about to be one among them I feel happy and content… 🙂 🙂 Not to be a Superwoman, but to be more active and proficient. I hate sitting idle and this was the main reason why I started with the blog writing stuff which has now become an integral part of my life and kitchen. Am always looking for new recipes, cookware and now a new camera too for better shots. Once again, thanks to all my blogging friends whose motivated comments and posts have brought this passion into me. OK, now am getting emotional 🙂 Lets get back to the serious work and then I ll go to bed.

Surprisingly I had never made Dhokla in my life myself before this. It was not something which was regular in our home and somehow, whenever I had it in shops or Restaurants, it was mostly the sweeter version which I did not like at all. Now, you might think am exaggerating but I never knew that the savory form of Dhokla exists in this world.. Huhh !! How ignorant of me … Its after I started blogging and reading a lot about different cuisines, that I came to know all the types and variety of Gujarati Food including Dhokla.

I took this from Veena’s Vegnation while I was going through her blog for Radhika’s Blog-Hop. Its special for me as I have made it first time and I actually liked it. It was not sweet in taste as I didnt pour the sugar syrup which is used in most Indian Sweet shops. And this was the taste I cherished 🙂 .. Hope you will feel the same once you try it.

Ingredients:

1. 1 1/2 cup Gram flour

2. 1 cup Green peas puree

3. 2 tsp Ginger chilli paste

4. 1/2 tsp Sugar

5. 1 1/2 tsp Eno (Fruit salt)

6. Salt to taste

7. 1 tsp Lemon juice

For the tempering:

1. 2 tsp Mustard Oil

2. 2 tsp Mustard seeds

3. 2-3 red dried chilies OR green chillies

4. A pinch of Asafoetida

For garnishing

1. 2 tbsp fresh grated coconut ( optional )

2. 1/2 cup finely chopped Coriander

Method:

1. In a bowl mix peas puree, gram flour, ginger chilli paste, sugar, salt, and Lemon juice.

2. Make a batter by adding water gradually keeping the dropping consistency.

3. Grease a plate or bowl. I did not have any steel plate so I used a normal steel milk pan. It worked well for me. If you do not have such pan, you can use simple Idli stand also for the same. The shape would be different but the taste would be the same.

4. Boil 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker. Its important to boil the water first and then place the Dhokla plate over it. If the water has not yet started boiling and you keep the bowl for steaming, the Dhokla will not be fluffy enough.

5. Add fruit salt to the batter and stir immediately. It will start frothing up a little.

6. At once pour into the greased plate/bowl and steam for 15 min on a medium flame and 5 min on low flame.

7. For the tempering, heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds.Add the dried red chillies and saute for half a min. Turn off the flame, sprinkle almost 1 tbsp of water over this and drizzle over prepared Dhokla.

8. Garnish with fresh coriander and grated coconut

Notes:

1. You can also drizzle sugar syrup along with lemon juice to make it a bit sweet in taste if you prefer. But this is really tangy and hot in taste which was amazing.