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Khaman Dhokla is a famous traditional Gujarati savoury dish made using gram flour or channa dal. Its very soft like sponge and fluffy in texture. This instant Dhokla is made using besan (Gram flour) and we are going to use eno salt / baking soda as the rising agent to make these dhoklas soft and spongy! I have also published the conventional way of making Khaman Dhokla using split gram dal (Channadal), soaking the dal and grinding with the masalas and fermenting for 6-8 hours or even overnight. That is a bit lengthy process but worthy for its texture and taste. But this instant method is also tasty and soft and quick to make without complex procedures. Serve with Green Chutney and devour!

Difference between Dhokla and Khaman Dhokla:

Dhokla :

Made with batter using rice, split chickpeas
White of pale in color
Little harder than khaman dhokla

Khaman Dhokla:

Made with Gram flour for instant version or soaking and grinding split Bengal gram
Yellow in color
Soft and spongy in texture

Tips for Perfect Dhokla:

Beat the batter nicely to incorporate aeration. Do this before adding eno salt
Eno fruit salt would be a better choice than baking soda. Sometimes baking soda reacts with turmeric and makes the dhokla red
After adding Eno Salt, steam the dhokla immediately or it will make the batter so watery and dhokla will not turn out good
We can alternate lemon juice with citric acid.
Always steam cook in medium flame. High flame makes dhokla rise immediately but inside it might not have cooked properly

You can also try:

Recipe Card for Instant Khaman Dhokla:

Instructions with Step by Step Pictures:

PREPARING DHOKLA PAN

Grease a round baking pan or a silver pan with oil and set it aside

WORKING WITH DRY INGREDIENTS

Take a mixing bowl, add gram flour, sooji, salt, turmeric powder, sugar, hing(Asafoetida) and mix everything well

LETS PREPARE THE BATTER!

To the dry ingredients, now add ginger+green-Chili Paste, curd, oil and mix together. Add water little by little and stir everything till the batter has the consistency of Dosa Batter.

ADDING RISING AGENTS

Squeeze ½ lemon and extract the lemon juice and add it to the Dhokla batter. Stir well. Just before cooking this batter, we need to add Eno Salt. This Eno salt acts as a rising agent to make the dhoklas soft and fluffy. The conventional process needs fermentation of batter. But this is an instant version, so lemon and curd gives the sourness and also the eno salt works with lemon juice to make the dhoklas softer. Instead of Eno Salt, we can also use Baking Soda. Likewise, instead of Lemon, we can also use Citric acid or vinegar. Once the Eno salt / Baking soda is added, the batter will be light and frizzy with lots of bubbles.

COOKING TIME!

Pour the Dhokla batter into the greased vessel / pan. First Heat the pressure cooker with water (like the water we add in the bottom of the cooker for cooking rice or idli) till the water starts to boil. When the cooker is hot, place the dhokla vessel inside the cooker and steam cook for 10 -12 or till the skewer comes out clean.

COOL & CUT DHOKLA

Cool the cooked dhokla for few minutes. Gently loosen the edges and flip the dhokla in a plate or cooling rack. Allow to cool for a minute and then cut into square pieces

TEMPERING PROCESS!

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and allow it to sputter. Then add sesame seeds and fry in oil. To this now add curry leaves, slit green chillies. Then, add ½ cup of water. To the water add sugar and coriander leaves and bring the water to boil. Pour this tempering along with this water on top of the cut dhokla pieces. This is tempering will seep through the dhoklas for few minutes making it more softer and tastier.

GARNISHING TIME!

Garnish with Coriander leaves and grated coconut and serve with Green Chutney