Wednesday, May 11, 2011

A successful breakfast experiment – Pan-fried Khaman Dhokla!!


I’m sure majority of you reading this blog would agree with me when I say, deciding what to eat first thing in the morning is not only painstaking but also a monotonous exercise day in – day out!! Yeah, Im speaking more so in relation to our female readers here than the male, obviously!! I have noticed single male would most often skip breakfast, and that’s perfectly OK! The little adventurous in the kitchen prefer Cereal with milk, bread-butter, toast-jam, a cheese sandwich or if the sun rose a little earlier than they expected then maybe a Bhurji (scrambled egg) or Omelet to start their day, unless of course they have hired a cook or help!    If they reached office early, a plate of Idli-vada toh banta hai boss (must have) or had to rush in to work, again Idli-vada from the nearest Udupi joint is a necessity to tame the roaring tummy!!  And trust me, until they remain single, they don’t believe that a variation beyond this exists for breakfast!  The day heaven showers them with marital bliss (!!??!!), breakfast now becomes mandatory and it’s up to this dutiful newly wedded bride to magically come up with an array of options for the man to select from.  Okay, I’m neither into male-bashing, nor am I a female-activist, so coming back to the topic, monotonous day in – day out exercise of thinking what to make for breakfast today, can really get to you!! Isn’t it??
Past few days, I have fallen victim to this syndrome and no matter how co-operative my dad has been, I have been feeling a little guilty that all I have done in this past week was to feed him a range of products made from the same batter - (started with Idli on Sunday, Kanjeepuram Idli on Monday, Fried Idli on Tuesday, Dosa on Wednesday, Masala Dosa on Thursday, batter absolutely sour so had to be Onion Uttapam on Friday!).  Finally, Saturday morning I think he lost his patience too, and demanded the much disliked Poha for breakfast! LOLZ!!
In fact, just yesterday, I had been to a session by Masterchef Sanjeev Kapoor, promoting his FoodFood channel at Oberoi Mall (Goregaon, Mumbai) and one of the things he mentioned during his question-answer session was about Menu-planning! I agree, I was very big into Menu-planning and organizing my weekly menu, grocery lists, etc., while I was also big into watching my calories! Now that watching calories is kinda out of the door at the moment, I really don’t pay much attention to what’s in-line to be cooked.  An impromptu Samosa makes its way in or even a Frankie with left over Rotis and Sabzi ;)  But after the last week’s marathon idli-batter episode and dad’s intervention and Chef Kapoor’s talk, this morning I woke up rejuvenated and recharged with an idea to go back to the board and create a menu for the week! (Note to readers – menu cannot be planned at 7am, when grocery stores are still closed and veggie vendors are just setting up their carts :P).  So reality bites and back to the grind, had to check my pantry for available items for this morning’s breakfast!  What I found was a packet of Khaman Dhokla mix by MTR, which has been sitting there for quite some time as never really found the time to make it (and it’s supposed to be an instant mix :P??!!??). 
If I haven’t mentioned in any of my previous blogs already, let me mention it here, my dad was never a military man, but he is a clock-work!! Breakfast is eaten at dot 9 hrs 15 mins, yes sir!! And it was already 9am (thanks to a few productive hours between 7:30am to 8:30 am that I spent on a menu for the week!) I only had 15 minutes to make dad breakfast, and Khaman Dhokla mix was the only available ingredient in my pantry today! (Statutory warning: the instant mix takes 40 minutes to make, 5 minutes for batter to rise, 15 minutes to steam and rest of the time to cool before you cut!!)  Obviously, I had to come up with my own instant plan!! And that I did, and what a big hit it turned out to be!
I made Pan-fried Khaman Dhokla – prepared batter just as the packet instructed me to (added ½ cup extra water actually), prepared topping separately (tadka of oil, mustard seeds, little sugar, hing, grated coconut, cilantro and water) and got a heavy bottom flat pan out! I made mini pancakes of this batter, covered it with a glass lid, so that it could steam a little bit and added a few drops of oil to let it get crunchy on the sides.  Took it off the pan, topped it with tadka topping (that’s usually used for Khaman Dhokla) and served it with Mint-Cilantro chutney (luckily had made it for the IPL special Samosa previous night)! Served it to dad! Instant hit!!!! J
If I can make your life easier for one morning, ladies (and for some of you men out there), here’s an instant recipe to instant Pan-fried Khaman Dhokla!
Ingredients

1 pkt Khaman Dhokla mix (I prefer MTR, 200gms pkt)
4 Tbsp oil (as suggested by the pkt, you can reduce this or avoid it)
200 ml + 50 ml water (200 ml suggested by pkt, I added 50 ml more)
1 small onion finely chopped

For tadka Topping:
¼ cup grated coconut (I usually have it stored in the refrigerator; you can use desiccated if you are in real hurry, though fresh tastes better any day)
1 Tbsp finely chopped Cilantro (coriander leaves)
2 tsp Mustard seeds
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp water

Extra oil to pan-fry

Method:
1)      Prepare batter as per instructions on the packet. I added 50 ml extra water to make it a little runnier.
2)      Add finely chopped onion to this batter.  Keep aside for a 2 – 3 minutes.
3)      In the meantime heat a heavy bottom flat pan.  Pour a small ladle of batter in the center of the pan, it will spread naturally.  If you prefer, you can oil the sides, cover with a lid and let it steam on one side for 1 minute.  Flip the side, oil again and let it cook uncovered for 1 minute.  (Note: keep the flame on medium).
4)      Remove from pan, top with 1 tsp of tadka topping and serve with mint-cilantro chutney or any chutney of your choice!  Enjoy!

This recipe makes about 4 large pancakes or 8 mini ones.   

It was a totally different experience for us this morning, soft and spongy texture from the dhokla, but a pan-fried crispness to the edges, just made it a perfect combination, do give it a try!  I would love to hear your feedback once you have tried this at home!!

Happy Cooking! J

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