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Even if you have not ever visited Gujarat, you perhaps already know of a Dhokla or a Khandvi or a Thepla. Such has been the fame and popularity of these Gujarati dishes that they have managed to successfully transcend geographical boundaries and have found fans all across the globe now. In most parts of India, Dhokla is a popular teatime snack, a delightful contrast to the gamut of fried, crispy titbits that often make it to the menu. Traditionally, Dhokla batter is fermented, the batter is then poured in steamers and steamed till one gets a light, airy cake. The tempering of mustard seeds is added towards the fag-end, along with chopped coriander and desiccated coconut (optional). The Dhoklas are often served with a pickled chilly that complements the mild and sweet flavour of dhokla.
Now dhokla is a fairly simple snack to make, but there are many flavours of dhoklas you can relish throughout the year. For instance, in summer, raw mangoes are also used in the batter, which lends a delectable sweet, sour and tangy flavour to the dhokla. Another fun experiment would be to add some of those leftover laukis to your dhoklas? Yes, you heard us right. Doodhi Dhokla is fun way to incorporate India’s very own lauki into your snacks. Lauki or doodhi, is bottle gourd, a vegetable you only find around the summer months. Its tall list of health benefits have been backed by both Ayurveda and modern science. More than 90 percent of the vegetable is just water. Brimming with nutrients such as vitamin C, riboflavin, zinc, thiamine et al. It contains negligible saturated fat and calories (most of the vegetable is just water and nutrients, what else did you expect). The vegetable is extremely light on your stomach and is good for your gut too. There’s however, one big problem. Lauki is infamous for being bland, flavourless and plain boring. But that could be because people haven’t truly explored its versatility.
Bored of your mundane lauki ki sabzi? No problem? Use it to make delish koftas and kheer, or a dhokla if you want. All you need to do to make this dhokla is to wash and grate the bottle gourd. Then combine it with gram flour, ginger chilli paste, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, juice of lemon, water and mix well. Be mindful of the water you add as lauki will release water anyway. Just add enough so that it binds well with besan. When you have a smooth and lump-free batter, add fruit salt, until the batter is light and fluffy. Then put the batter to steam.
Let the dhoklas steam uninterrupted on medium to low flame. Insert a toothpick in the dhokla once it is steamed, if the toothpick comes out clean, your doodhi dhoklas are ready to devour.
