This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Its not like I am on a gf diet. A lot of indian meals and snacks just happen to be naturally glutenfree, like these khaman Dhokla. If you are on a gf diet, you would love all the meals from south India and most snacks from Northwest states like Gujarat.
Jump to Recipe
There are different types of Dhoklas, the instant Khaman with chickpea flour like this one, the fermented one made with whole lentils like chana daal(bengal gram), urad daal(black gram and rice, which are soaked, ground and fermented overnight. The one on this post is the instant version.
Serve these for breakfast or snack.. another nutritious Gameday Snack! You can even make a dhokla sandwich. Put some favorite chutneys and roasted veggies between 2.
Video for Instant dhokla(non vegan version).- uses Eno fruit salt and citric acid like most dhokla recipes.
Chickpea flour along with some other lentil and bean flours is used to make a variety of Gujarati snacks, baked, fried, fermented, steamed. Fafda, Kachori, Kahndvi, Muthiya, Khakra, Khaman dhokla, Handvo and lots more(you dont need to pronounce these to enjoy them:D). You can find some recipes here and on Sanjeev Kapoor’s site here, mostly vegetarian and but easily veganized.
More Snack/breakfast options on my Facebook Snack album here.
Khaman Dhokla - chickpea flour steamed savory snack cakes
A traditional Indian savory snack
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup chickpea flour, besan
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1/2 teaspoon raw sugar, ground
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, scant
- pinch of asofetida, hing
- generous pinch of turmeric, optional, just for a brighter yellow color
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger or 1/2 tsp paste
- 1/2 teaspoon grated green chili
- 3 Tablespoons non dairy yogurt, I used SoDelicious plain coconut milk yogurt
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
- a generous pinch of baking soda
Tempering/Tadka
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 4-5 curry leaves
- pinch of asofetida, hing
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon raw sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
- 1 Tablespoon shredded coconut, optional
- Sesame seeds, optional
Instructions
- Whisk all the dry ingredients of the dhokla well.
- Add in the grated or paste ginger and chili and mix.
- In another bowl, Whisk the yogurt, water and vinegar to remove lumps and combine well.
- Add the yogurt mix into the dry ingredients and mix/whisk to form a lump free flowy, not too watery, batter.
- Add the pinch of baking soda into the dhokla batter when ready to steam, mix well.
- Immediately pour the batter into the parchment lined baking pan and steam it in any way you find comfortable.
- Start up the steamer.
- I usually use my 6 inch round steel pan and steam in a pressure cooker without whistle. But not everyone has a pressure cooker, I used a deep pan(steamer set up) with a well fitting lid, the lid has a hole. I used a non stick 6 by 3 inch baking pan lined with parchment for the dhokla cake.
- This baking pan can be put in any steamer and steamed for 22-24 minutes.
- I filled up the deep pan with water that reached to about 2/3 the height of the baking pan.
- Once the water starts boiling, add the pinch of baking soda into the dhokla batter and mix well.
- Immediately pour the batter into the parchment lined dhokla pan.
- Place dhokla pan in boiling water, cover and steam on high flame for 18-20 minutes.
- Check on the 18 minute mark, a tooth pick from the center should come out almost clean. Cook for another 2-3 minutes and switch off.
- After a minute, Take the dhokla pan out of the steamer pan and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Remove parchment from pan and rest for another 5 minutes before peeling off the parchment. You can also use a greased pan, and using a knife loosen the edges.
- Cut the dhokla into squares or rectangles.
Tempering:
- Heat oil in a small pan on medium heat.
- When hot add the mustard seeds and wait for them to sputter.
- Add in the asofetida(hing) and curry leaves and reduce heat to low. You can add the chopped cilantro now and cook it for a few seconds, or use it uncooked as garnish.
- Add half a teaspoon of chopped green chili(optional)
- In a bowl, mix the lemon juice, water and sugar and add this carefully to the pan.
- Mix well and turn heat off. Pour this over evenly the cut dhokla.
- Garnish with coconut, sesame seeds, cilantro. Serve, with sweet tamarind date chutney or green cilantro mint chutney.
Notes
I used less garnish for the pictures so that you can see the texture and such of the dhokla. Use as much or as little tadka and garnish as you like. We like a good amount of mustard seeds and cilantro and chili, and not as much coconut. If you use a pressure cooker, it will be ready in 15-16 minutes. If you double the recipe, increase the cooking time by a few minutes. Also use 2 pans if making a bigger batch. Smaller and less deep pans will get cooked faster and evenly.
Nutritional values based on one cake
Nutrition
Calories: 72kcal, Carbohydrates: 8g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 3g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 245mg, Potassium: 98mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 40IU, Vitamin C: 21.9mg, Calcium: 38mg, Iron: 0.5mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make this recipe? Rate and comment below!
This dhokla is headed to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays,Ricki’s wellness weekend, Allergy free Wednesdays
Is the recipe card correct? I think it should have more than 1/4 cup besan…
Yup. It makes a the tiny loaf pan. The 5 inch by 2 inch one. Try my other dhokla recipe that makes a regular cake pan worth veganricha.com/?s=dhokla
okay! I tried making it in the idli pot – I guess I made dhokli hahaha. I loved it, delicious!
awesome
Have you tried fermenting the batter overnight ?
i havent. the yogurt in the batter might get too tangy. You can ferment it for a few hours and then steam
Hi, I tried this in the Instant Pot using the exact recipe you gave, except I used regular yogurt and not the coconut. 15 minutes in Steam Mode in IP wasn’t enough. Had to steam a little longer. Have you done this in the IP using the same method?
Thank you.
I havent tried it in IP. In general IP will take a few additional minutes as it is a lower pressure pressure cooker. So add atleast 5 minutes during steaming. Also regular yogurt would be heaver than non dairy which is generally a lighter yogurt so that might add time as well. I havent used dairy yogurt in a while. This recipe is adjusted wih non dairy yogert amounts for the best results which is lighter after testing with different amounts.
Hello Richa,
I made this for one of my Vegan friends, however, it retained the strong chickpea smell and taste when it was done. Took about 45mins to steam till done. Not sure where I went wrong. Can you please advise?. The normal dokla’s do not seem to have the typical chickpea smell.
thanks,
Andy
Hi Andrea, what flour did you use? Besan(gram flour) or chickpea flour? What kind of non dairy yogurt? and did you steam the dhokla? 45 minutes is way too long, which I imagine would dry it out and hence cause the flavor to be stronger.
There are various kinds of dhokla that are yellow or white or made with all besan/chickpea flour or a mix of flours. The yellow khaman dhokla usually uses besan, and is steamed for just 10 to 15 minutes. It has the flavor profile of besan which gets less strong as it sits soaked in the tempering.
These look delicious! CELIACS BEWARE: Asafoetida (hing) is generally not gluten-free.
Asafetida(hing) the spice is gluten-free. the hard crystals are cut/ground with a starch or flour which is generally wheat. So ground asafetida can have gluten. It can also be ground with rice flour. So check the label or get the whole asafetida and get it ground at a spice store with a flour or starch of choice.
Is asofetida gluten free? How do you pronounce it?
Is asofetida gluten free? How do you pronounce it?
Hi Jennifer, Pure asafetida is glutenfree. It is a spice powder. It is also called hing. You can find it in indian stores or on amazon or health stores. Look for pure asafetida. it is usually sold mixed with starches and usually wheat starch. you can also skip it. Its a somewhat garlicky taste, so you can sub it with garlic or onion powder.