Usually, Khatta Dhokla is prepared by fermenting the rice and lentil flour batter overnight in water and the next day the dhoklas are prepared by steaming in a steamer. Traditionally, a big batch of rice and Urad Dals are dry milled together and stored in a big Dabba(box) as dhokla flour. I remember my mom used to mix Urad dal lentil and rice in a big steel Dabba and I used to carry that container to the local flour mill.:) Whenever we wanted to make the dhokla, we mixed with yogurt and water to form a batter and left to ferment and made dhoklas. It was so simple. But here in US, there is no flour mill. Although dhokla flour is easily available in the Indian grocery store, I don’t like to use that flour. Since there is no flour mill here, I make my Khatta Sandwich dhokla from Idli/Dosa batter. I used a small mold to make the Khatta Sandwich Dhokla. If you don’t have mold, you may simply use the greased plate.
Direction
Wash and soak the parboiled rice and urad dal separately for at least 6 hours.
Drain the water. Don’t throw urad dal water, you can use it to grind the batter.
In a grinder, grind rice and urad dal separately. Add 3 to 4 tablespoon of the reserved water from the urad dal while grinding. Keep adding a few tablespoon of water in between it needed. The batter should be light and fluffy. Don’t add too much water in the beginning. keep adding little water in between. The batter should not be thick or thin.
Take this batter in to big bowl. Make sure there is room to ferment the batter properly. Add salt and mix it very well.
Cover the bowl with a lid and keep it in a warm place for about 10 to 12 hours. The best place to put the batter is microwave or oven.
After fermentation, the Khatta Dhokla batter rises and doubles up.
In Idli steamer or in pressure cooker boil 4 cups of water.
Grease the plate or mold with some oil.
Spread ½ centimeter thick layer of dhokla batter on greased plate or mold. Steam the dhokla layer for around 4 minutes. This will semi cook the dhokla layer making it easy to apply Mint And Coriander chutney.
Once the first layer of dhokla is half-cooked, apply a layer of Mint and Coriander chutney evenly on dhokla. Again pour final layer of dhokla mix on top of Mint and coriander chutney and spread it evenly. Cook the dhokla for 5 to 7 minutes.
The Khatta Sandwich Dhokla is ready.
