Dhokla - the lovely fluffy besan product

Apart from boondi and sweets made out of boondi, besan is used to make many other eatables to soothe the Indian palate – and, one of these is the fluffy dhokla. Once restricted to Gujarat, it is now common fare all over the country and, like snacks like idli, dosa, uthappam of the south, dhokla has won over Indians in all corners.
Dhokla is a sort of snack unique to Gujarat and its lightness is a matter of mystery – when laid out on display in the shops with a sprinkling of chopped coriander leaves and a splattering of mustard seeds it beckons with its fluffy yellow color and porosity.

It is not too difficult to prepare and it involves mixing besan with yoghurt in proper proportions with addition of water and a pinch of salt. The mixture is to be kept for sufficient time (3 to 4 hours) in order to allow the fermentation to take place. Once that is done, a bit of turmeric is added to bring the yellow color and the mixture is ready to be cooked. Some would add green chili and ginger paste to bring in a different taste apart from lemon juice, sodium bicarbonate and a tiny bit of oil.
Now comes the cooking part. Put the mixture in a greased container and then in the steamer – dhokla has to be steam cooked. This should not take more than ten minutes. Then cut it into suitable size fluffy cubes and allow it to cool.
The last step is the garnishing with coriander leaves, ground coconut and whole mustard seeds. The mustard seeds are put in a kadai of boiling oil and as it starts to splutter, pour it over the dhokla and finish off with the white and green garnishing of coriander leaves and grated coconut. (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)


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Indian kitchens must have ‘besan’

‘Besan’ is the powdered form of the chana dal (gram or chickpea) and is an inseparable part of any Indian kitchen right from Kashmir to Kalaikunda – Indians just cannot think of a world minus besan because, with its help, the cook can create wonder recipes.
Besan is usually made use of by mixing with water to make a batter in which vegetables or fish are dipped and deep fried. The end product is generally known as pakoras – and the vegetable can be practically any veggie that can be fried. Examples onions, potatoes, cauliflower, brinjal, green chillies etcetera.
However, another area where besan is extensively used is in making sweets. And – in order to make these sweets, experts are required, conveying the powder into tiny globules of different sizes to create delicious sweets is the work of an artist, an artist who knows just how much he can extract from his ingredients.

The common factor is the batter of besan in water and, these are converted into tiny globules by passing through a sieve which has holes punched in it. The sieve is selected based on what is being prepared.
If it is to be boondi meant for taking with raita or chat, there would be salt added. Else, if it would be for a laddoo which is sweet, some color (orange or yellow) would be added to the batter and that would be passed through a sieve. The besan would then get converted into millions of tiny crisp droplets which would be fried in ghee and dumped into sugar syrup. The droplets would be removed with the syrup sticking to its sides and then left to dry. Once the dryness is manageable, kish-mish, chopped cashew nuts, pistachios etcetera are added as garnish and then, the laddoos are formed by hand.
This is the general method of preparing laddoos of besan in places other than in Bengal.
However, in Bengal, the boondi laddoos are known as ‘darbesh’ – the process is similar as above – only, the droplets are of different colors like red, orange, green.
And, on top of the list is the mihidana – or ‘fine droplets’. Yes, the size of the boondis are very small and the sieve has smaller size holes punched. Moreover, the color added to the batter is deep orange and it is fried in ghee. This mihidana is a unique sweet of Burdwan. (to be continued …)

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