Mag ni Dal na Dhokla

Can I just say one thing about them?

Mag ni Dal na Dhokla

Yes, just look at those beauties!

Despite being a Gujju, I am not a dhokla person.  I do not like the flavours of the ever popular 'khaata dhokla' which are the white ones made from fermented rice batter or 'khaman dhokla'  which are the yellow ones made from besan. To me, these humble and not-so-popular dhoklas win hands down! 

Mag ni Dal na Dhokla

Ingredients

1 cup green moong dal (with skins)

1/2 inch ginger roughly sliced

1-2 green chillies cut into 4/5 pieces each

Salt to taste

Oil to cook

Method

Soak the moong dal overnight or for at least 6 hours. Remove excess water and grind with the green chillies, ginger and salt to make a thick batter that has the consistency of a dosa batter. This is the same batter as used to make Mag ni Dal na Pudla. 

To steam the dhoklas, take a deep thick large pan and put about 2 cups of water in the bottom and start heating it.  Grease a deep steel dish or thaali and pour the batter evenly in it till it is about 3 cms lower than the edge of the thali. Use a steel ring or an upturned steel bowl as a stand in it to put the thaali on. 

The deep pan for steaming with the steel ring as a stand

Place the dish with the batter on the ring as shown below.

The batter filled thali in the steaming pan

Cover with an upturned dish and let the batter steam and cook on a high flame for about 7 minutes and then on a lowered flame for 3 minutes.

Steaming the Dhoklas

The best way to check the doneness of dhoklas is to put a knife edge into it. If it comes out clean, then your dhoklas are ready to eat. Cut into squares of about 2 inches and serve hot with your favourite chutney or ketchup.