Quick Cooking – Microwave Dhokla

That’s what a Microwave is there for – to make life easier. I am always looking for ways to cut out the cooking time (and cooking itself, some days), and my MW is the partner in this crime.  Without the MW, I would have shut down the kitchen itself long back.

When I bought the MW, we received Nita Mehta’s IFB Microwave Cookbook as a compliment. The book sits on top of the Microwave all the time. I tried the Khaman Dhokla recipe from there. The dhokla was soft, nice, and absolutely easy to make. I wish I had used a larger vessel, though.

Ingredients: 

  • Besan / Gram Flour/ Chickpea Flour : 1 1/2 cups
  • Water                                                                : 1 cup
  • Oil                                                                       : 1 tbsp
  • Turmeric Powder                                         : 1/2 tsp
  • Green Chillies & Ginger paste                  : 2 tsp
  • Salt                                                                     : 1 tsp
  • Sugar                                                                 : 1 tsp
  • Cooking Soda (Soda Bi carb)                   : 1/4 tsp
  • Eno Fruit salt                                                 : 1 1/2 tsp (I used 1 sachet)
  • Lemon Juice                                                   : 2 tsp

For Tempering

  • Oil                               : 2 tbsp
  • Mustard Seeds      : 1 tsp
  • Green Chillies        : 2-3, slit into long pieces
  • White Vinegar       : 1/4 cup
  • Water                        : 3/4 cup
  • Sugar                         : 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Sift the gram flour in a big bowl. Add water, oil, turmeric powder, salt, sugar, chilli & ginger paste. Mix to get a smooth, lump free  batter.
  2. Add the cooking soda, eno fruit salt and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly. The volume increases once you add the fruit salt. Pour this into a well greased, flat microwave proof bowl.
  3. Microwave uncovered for 6 minutes. Keep aside.
  4. In a separate microwave proof bowl, add the oil, chillies and mustard seeds. Cover this and cook for 1 1/2 minutes.
  5. Once the seeds crack, add the water, sugar and vinegar and cook uncovered for 4 minutes.
  6. Pour this over the dhokla and wait for 15- 20 minutes till the water is absorbed.
  7. Cut into square pieces and serve.

Sending this to Microwave Easy Cooking, for this month’s theme of Party Appetizers, and Susan’s popular My Legume Love Affair.

26 thoughts on “Quick Cooking – Microwave Dhokla”

  7. Hi… I tried these just yesterday… And they turned out awesome!!!! My husband and I loved them… Now I have a quicker and easier way to satiate my khaman urges anytime I feel like… Thanks! :)

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  8. hai..
    we bought a new ifb mw 20sc2.we recieved only the nita mehta regional book of ifb which consists of 6 andhra dishes.can you please tell me which type of book we will get with mw.and how many pages it contain?

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    1. Hi
      I have mentioned the cooking time in the recipe itself. This is done in MW mode, not convection mode of the MW. So you don’t need to fix any temperature.

      Also keep in mind that cooking times vary from machine to machine, so your machine;s time may be different from whiat is mentioned here by a minute or two.

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  11. hi, i tried making dhokla but my dhokla remains uncooked in the botton of center, if i cook further the side dhokla is overcooked. Please suggest

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    1. Sorry for the late response. I have been stuck with a slow net connection for sometime now :(

      I am not sure what went wrong here, but generally for MW recipes, it is advised to wait for a little bit of time (about 4-5 min standing time) before you take out the dish. Its kind of a passive cooking time.

      Also, the bottom of the MW dish need to be flat, so that the thickness of dhokla is the same throughout.

      Hope it helps.

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  12. hi, nice recipe.. want to try it, but not having an oven at home… can u suggest how to cook it the traditional way on a gas minus the oven ?

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    1. Hi. Sorry for the really late response.

      Traditionally Dhokla batter is are steamed and cooked, this is a microwave version of the same. You can get the recipe with a google search for ‘Dhokla’

      Rajani

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  13. Hi dear the dhokla looks superb and so perfectly done. I want to try it but I have a normal microwave oven not a conventional so is it possible to do it and should I go for instant cook in microwave for 6 minutes. Glad to follow you do visit my spce in ur free time.

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    1. Thanks for your comment. For this recipe, you don’t need a convection oven. You might have to change the cooking time a bit since this changes from machine to machine.

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  14. Pingback: Gujarati Thali | My Kitchen Trials

  15. I tried this recipe and it turned out fabulous. But I didn’t get the crimson color you have shown in one of the pictures. what’s the secret?

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    1. Thanks for trying the recipe and I am glad that it turned out good. Reg the pink color, it was a happy error :D. The color went off when the syrup was soaked in. My guess is that I may have overcooked the dhokla by a couple of minutes.

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    1. Eno fruit salt sachets are easily available in almost all supermarkets. You can read about it here. You can replace it with a combination of 1/4th citric acid + 3/4th baking soda or baking soda alone.

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