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Matar or Vatana Dhokla

May 08, 2019
Matar or Vatana Dhokla

It all started with the purpose of documenting my own creation, my experiment with SCD recipes (you can read the full story here) so that someone somewhere might benefit someday. But I never knew that, in finding that purpose, someday I will be able to make a difference. And to say that I’m elated would be an understatement.

I am getting lots of emails enquiring either about SCD recipes from my blog or the guidelines to start the diet. Last week I got a mail from a brand new reader of my blog, from Vancouver requesting to create a recipe of SCD khaman dhokla (steamed savory lentil cake). A recipe, of which most of the ingredients are not allowed in this diet, was certainly not easy to make but then doing a thing under certain limitations is the key to evolve, isn’t it? I really enjoyed coming up this recipe, although it took few trials, I'm here with a foolproof recipe of SCD khaman dhokla.

Matar or Vatana Dhokla

Dhokla, a traditional Gujarat snack, is made from besan (chickpea flour) but to make it SCD friendly I tried making it with yellow split pea (matar daal).

Prep Time

30 Minutes

Cooking Time

15 Minutes

Serving

17

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup Yellow split pea/matar ki daal
  • 1 inch Ginger
  • 1 Green chili
  • 1/2 tsp Baking soda
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp Lemon juice
  • 1/4 tsp Turmeric
  • 1 tbsp Oil

For tempering:

  • 1 tbsp Oil
  • 1 tsp Mustard seeds
  • 2 Slit green chili
  • 4-5 Curry leaf
  • 1/2 tsp Sesame seed
  • 1/2 cup Water
  • 1 tbsp Honey
  • 1 tbsp Grated coconut
  • 1 tbsp Chopped cilantro/hara dhania

For chutney:

  • 1 cup Cilantro/hara dhania
  • 1/2 cup Mint/pudina
  • 1 Green chili
  • 1 tsp Chopped ginger
  • 2 tbsp Lemon juice
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp Plain yogurt/dahi (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Wash and soak the daal/split pea overnight. Remove excess water and grind along with ginger and 1 green chili into a smooth thick batter.
  • Mix in salt, turmeric, 1 tbsp oil and lemon juice. Keep the steamer greased and ready.
  • Now mix baking soda in the batter. Do not over mix the batter. Pour batter in the pan and steam for about 15 minutes or till the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Switch off the flame and let it come to room temperature.
  • To make tempering, heat oil in small pan, add mustard seed, green chili curry leaf and sesame seed. When mustard seeds stop crackling, switch off the flame. Add water and honey.
  • Mix well and with the help of a spoon, pour this water on top of dhokla. Make sure to sprinkle the water evenly.
  • To make chutney, grind everything together.
  • Cut into squares, garnish with grated coconut and chopped cilantro/hara dhania. Enjoy with green chutney.

Notes

**I have used soaked daal but you can also use split pea flour/matar ka besan, in that case, use 1.5 cup flour.