Khatta Dhokla Recipe From Scratch, Gujarati Khatta Dhokla Recipe

Khatta Dhokla Recipe (Gujarati Khatiya Dhokla) – An all time favorite Gujarati baking dish is dhokla. Nothing beats this savory spicy cake made from lentils and rice. The soft and fluffy dhoklas are king of Gujarati cuisine. There are many varieties of dhoklas prepared in Gujarat. Check out other tasty dishes like Handvo recipe, Sandwich Idra recipe, White dhokla (Idra dhokla) and Muthiya Dhokla.

Khatta dhokla is yet another variation of the traditional dhokla recipe. These are also known as Khatiya Dhokla in Kathiawadi (a dialect of Gujarati). The word “Khatta” literary means “Sour”. These khatta dhokla are made by souring rice & lentil flour with some sour curd. The fermentation process usually takes 8-10 hours. During this time the dhokla pick up its sour taste. Usually for fermentation the dhokla batter has to be kept in warm place. This is crucial as the sour taste is induced by warm environment.

As for other Dhokla recipes, the khatta dhokla can be molded into any shapes. While baking them (steaming) we can use different shape molds. The khatta dhokla recipe can also be prepared in microwave instead of steam cooker. However this microwave dhokla won’t taste as good as steamed one.

Traditionally khatta dhoklas are served as side dish or main dish and eaten along with chutneys like coriander peanut chutney and garlic red chilly chutney. I  have served the khatta dhoklas with red chili garlic chutney. The spicy taste of this chutney goes really well with khatta dhoklas.

So lets start khatta dhokla recipe from scratch.

Step by step Gujarati Khatta Dhokla Recipe

The process of making khatta dhokla is two-fold. First is to prepare the dhokla batter and next is to steam the batter into different shapes khatta dhokla.

Let us check how to prepare khatta dhokla batter.

To Make Khatta Dhokla Batter

The batter for khatta dhokla is prepared from rice & lentil (gram) flour. If you don’t have rice & gram flour you can soak rice and bengal gram (chana dal) overnight in water and grind it into fine paste next day. That way you will have a batter which can then be fermented by adding curd. Check below steps to know how to ferment the khatta dhokla batter.

1. In a mixing bowl take 2 cups of chana dal / gram flour and rice flour. The proportion between besan and rice flour is 1:4 so take 1/2 cup besan and mix it with 1 1/2 cup rice flour to make 2 cups of khatta dhokla flour.
2. Add a tablespoon of whole chana dal (bengal gram split) and yogurt/curd in the mixing bowl.
3. Pour a cup of water and mix it well to create a batter.
4. Keep aside the batter in a warm place to ferment for 8-10 hours or over night.

Once fermented for 8-10 hours, the dhokla batter should be ready. We can now make khatta dhoklas from this batter. If you want to store the batter you can do so by storing it in air tight container and putting it in refrigerator at low temperature. By doing so we stop the fermentation process and avoid batter getting too sour.

Just take the batter out of refrigerator whenever you are ready to make khatta dhoklas.

To Steam Khatta Dhokla

Let us add the seasoning ingredients to the khatta dhokla batter. In the fermented dhokla batter add finely chopped ginger, garlic and green chili. Also put some turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mix everything well. Check the consistency of batter. If required add a little water and mix it well. The consistency of batter should be like Dosa batter. Taste the batter and check if salt is ok.

Now the khatiya dhokla batter is ready to be steamed. You can steam the dhoklas in any shape mold. Lot of people use Idli molds to steam dhokla. However traditionally khatta dhokra are steamed in a plate in shape of other dhoklas like idra dhokla.

I have used two different kinds of mold to steam khatta dhokla. First the normal plate and next small stainless steel tea cups. Check the final image of dhokla to see this.

Let us start the steps to steam khatta dhokla:

1. Check the consistence of fermented dhokla mix. If required add a little water and mix it. Also check the salt.
2. Take a portion of dhokla batter in a bowl and add a pinch of baking soda (soda bi-carbonate). Also add 2-3 drops of lemon juice and mix it well. Baking soda makes the dhokla fluffy and soft.
3. Prepare the steam cooker for dhoklas. If you don’t have dhokla cooker you can use normal cooker. Put a small dish at the bottom and fill cooker with 1-2 cup water. Put the dhokla plate on top of dish so that it does not get submerge into water.
4. Next grease the dhokla plate with some oil.
5. Pour fermented dhokla mix batter in dhokla plate.
6. Sprinkle some red chili powder on top of spread dhokla batter.
7. Steam the dhokla mix for 8-10 minutes.

Carefully remove the dhokla from dhokla plate and place it in serving plate. Using knife cut the dhokla cake as shown in below image.

The spicy tasty delicious khatta dhokla is ready.

Serve the khatta dhokla hot along with some oil and any favorite chutneys like garlic & red chili chutney.